GHSA-2rxp-v6pw-ch6m is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-1333 vulnerability in rexml. A fix is available for rexml — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-2rxp-v6pw-ch6m.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
rexmlReal-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
The REXML gem before 3.3.9 has a ReDoS vulnerability when it parses an XML that has many digits between &# and x...; in a hex numeric character reference (&#x...;).
This does not happen with Ruby 3.2 or later. Ruby 3.1 is the only affected maintained Ruby. Note that Ruby 3.1 will reach EOL on 2025-03.
Patches
The REXML gem 3.3.9 or later include the patch to fix the vulnerability.
Workarounds
Use Ruby 3.2 or later instead of Ruby 3.1.
References
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💎RubyGems | rexml | all versions | 3.3.9bundle update rexml --conservative |
Affected Products
ontap toolsnetapprexmlruby-langDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for rexml, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update rexml to 3.3.9 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-2rxp-v6pw-ch6m 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.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
This vulnerability is rated as a moderate severity because it allows attackers to exploit inefficient regex parsing in hex numeric character references (&#x...;), causing a ReDoS and impacting availability, it requires specific malicious input but does not affect confidentiality or integrity. Satellite employs…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | ruby:3.1-8100020241127152928.489197e6 | RHSA-2024:10834 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | ruby:2.5-8100020241127152844.489197e6 | RHSA-2024:10850 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | pcs-0:0.10.18-2.el8_10.6 | RHSA-2025:11047 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 Advanced Update Support | ruby:2.5-8020020241211125628.4cda2c84 | RHSA-2024:11027 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support | ruby:2.5-8040020241211104816.522a0ee4 | RHSA-2024:11028 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support | ruby:2.5-8060020241211101132.ad008a3a | RHSA-2024:11029 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Telecommunications Update Service | pcs-0:0.10.12-6.el8_6.9 | RHSA-2025:13307 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Extended Update Support | ruby:3.1-8080020241210144941.63b34585 | RHSA-2024:10966 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-2rxp-v6pw-ch6m in your dependencies?
Find it across RubyGems, including transitive dependencies.