GHSA-wjv4-x9w8-wm3h
GHSA-wjv4-x9w8-wm3h is a Use After Free vulnerability in nokogiri. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-wjv4-x9w8-wm3h is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Nokogiri: Possible Use-After-Free when setting `Document#root=` to an invalid node type
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.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- 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-wjv4-x9w8-wm3h.
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.
Real-World Exposure
nokogiriReal-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
Summary
Nokogiri::XML::Document#root= validated only that the new root was a Nokogiri::XML::Node, allowing a DTD node to be set as the document root. The result is a heap use-after-free during garbage collection or finalization, leading to an invalid memory read or potentially a segfault.
Nokogiri 1.19.4 restricts Document#root= to element nodes, raising TypeError for any other node type.
This memory-safety issue affects only the CRuby implementation (libxml2). The JRuby implementation was not affected; the same input validation was added there for behavioral parity.
Severity
The Nokogiri maintainers have evaluated this as low severity. This is only triggered by a programming error. It requires application code to assign a non-element node such as a DTD as the document root via Document#root=. Nokogiri 1.19.4 now raises TypeError instead of allowing a use-after-free. It cannot be triggered by untrusted input or through normal use of the public API.
Mitigation
Upgrade to Nokogiri 1.19.4 or later.
As a workaround, applications that cannot upgrade should avoid assigning a DTD (or any non-element node) via Document#root=.
Credit
This issue was responsibly reported by Zheng Yu from depthfirst.com.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💎RubyGems | nokogiri | all versions | 1.19.4 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for nokogiri. 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 nokogiri to 1.19.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-wjv4-x9w8-wm3h 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-wjv4-x9w8-wm3h 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-wjv4-x9w8-wm3h. 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-wjv4-x9w8-wm3h in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-wjv4-x9w8-wm3h across RubyGems dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.