GHSA-qxmr-qxh6-2cc9 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-1333 vulnerability in solidus_core. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-qxmr-qxh6-2cc9 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
ReDos vulnerability on guest checkout email validation
Real-World Exposure
solidus_core💎solidus_core💎solidus_coreReal-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
Denial of service vulnerability that could be exploited during a guest checkout. The regular expression used to validate a guest order's email was subject to exponential backtracking through a fragment like a.a..
Before the patch, it can be reproduced in the console like this:
irb(main)> Spree::EmailValidator::EMAIL_REGEXP.match "[email protected].@"
processing time: 54.293660s
=> nil
To reproduce in the browser, fill in the "Customer Email" field with that fake email address during a guest checkout. Before that, you should open the browser dev tools and change the type attribute for that field from email to text. After entering a fake address and pressing the "Save & Continue" button, the browser will take a long term to perform the request before showing an error message for the invalid address. Eventually, making the email string even longer could lead to the exhaustion of server resources.
Patches
Versions 3.1.4, 3.0.4, and 2.11.13 have been patched to use a different regular expression.
There's an improbable chance that some orders in your system end up having associated an email address that is no longer valid. We've added a task to check precisely that:
bin/rails solidus:check_orders_with_invalid_email
The above will print information for every affected order if any.
Workarounds
If a prompt upgrade is not an option, please, add the following to config/application.rb:
config.after_initialize do
Spree::EmailValidator.send(:remove_const, :EMAIL_REGEXP)
Spree::EmailValidator::EMAIL_REGEXP = URI::MailTo::EMAIL_REGEXP
end
References
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open an issue or a discussion in Solidus.
- Email us at [email protected]
- Contact the core team on Slack
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💎RubyGems | solidus_core | all versions | 2.11.13 |
| 💎RubyGems | solidus_core | ≥ 3.0.0&&< 3.0.4 | 3.0.4 |
| 💎RubyGems | solidus_core | ≥ 3.1.0&&< 3.1.4 | 3.1.4 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for solidus_core. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update solidus_core to 2.11.13 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-qxmr-qxh6-2cc9 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 pinpoints whether GHSA-qxmr-qxh6-2cc9 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-qxmr-qxh6-2cc9. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-qxmr-qxh6-2cc9 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-qxmr-qxh6-2cc9 across RubyGems dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.