CVE-2023-51763 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.2) CWE-1236 vulnerability in activeadmin. A fix is available for activeadmin — see the affected versions and patch details below.
ActiveAdmin CSV Injection leading to sensitive information disclosure
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2023-51763 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 378,156 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
activeadminReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects RubyGems packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impact
In ActiveAdmin versions prior to 3.2.0, maliciously crafted spreadsheet formulas could be uploaded as part of admin data that, when exported to a CSV file and the imported to a spreadsheet program like libreoffice, could lead to remote code execution and private data exfiltration.
The attacker would need privileges to upload data to the same ActiveAdmin application as the victim, and would need the victim to possibly ignore security warnings from their spreadsheet program.
Patches
Versions 3.2.0 and above fixed the problem by escaping any data starting with = and other characters used by spreadsheet programs.
Workarounds
Only turn on formula evaluation in spreadsheet programs when importing CSV after explicitly reviewing the file.
References
https://owasp.org/www-community/attacks/CSV_Injection https://github.com/activeadmin/activeadmin/pull/8167
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💎RubyGems | activeadmin | all versions | 3.2.0bundle update activeadmin --conservative |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for activeadmin, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update activeadmin to 3.2.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-51763 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2023-51763 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-51763. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-51763 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-51763 across RubyGems dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.