CVE-2013-2119: Passenger Denial of Service Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-9qj7-jvg4-qr2x
Share
CWE-377
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2013-2119 is a MODERATE denial of service vulnerability (CWE-377: Insecure Temporary File) affecting Passenger libraries in the RubyGems ecosystem. The issue involves phusion passenger denial of service. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 3.0.21, 4.0.5.

CVE-2013-2119 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2013-2119
GHSA Identifier GHSA-9qj7-jvg4-qr2x
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score N/A
CWE Classification CWE-377: Insecure Temporary File
Affected Product Passenger
Package Ecosystem RubyGems
Published Date
Last Updated

How to Fix CVE-2013-2119

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Passenger dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

passenger fixed: 3.0.21 
Upgrade passenger to 3.0.21
passenger fixed: 4.0.5 
Upgrade passenger to 4.0.5
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

inspect dependencies for passenger

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2013-2119, inspect your project dependencies for Passenger:

inspect dependencies for passenger

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Passenger in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 3.0.21), your application is affected.

Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-377: Insecure Temporary File, where creating and using insecure temporary files can leave application and system data vulnerable to attack. In Passenger, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

Phusion Passenger gem before 3.0.21 and 4.0.x before 4.0.5 for Ruby allows local users to cause a denial of service (prevent application start) or gain privileges by pre-creating a temporary "config" file in a directory with a predictable name in `/tmp/` before it is used by the gem.

CVE-2013-2119 Affected Passenger Versions

2 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
3.0.214.0.5
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
passenger
gem/passenger
RubyGems
< 3.0.21
3.0.21
passenger
gem/passenger
RubyGems
≥ 4.0.1
< 4.0.5
4.0.5

References

NVD — CVE-2013-2119 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-2119
access.redhat.com/errata/rhsa-2013:11... WEB
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013:1136
Passenger Security Information SECURITY
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2013-2119
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi WEB
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=892813
GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-9qj7-jvg4-qr2x
Passenger Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/passenger/CVE-2013-2119.yml
blog.phusion.nl/2013/05/29/phusion-... WEB
http://blog.phusion.nl/2013/05/29/phusion-passenger-3-0-21-released
blog.phusion.nl/2013/05/29/phusion-... WEB
http://blog.phusion.nl/2013/05/29/phusion-passenger-4-0-5-released
rhn.redhat.com/errata/rhsa-2013-11... WEB
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-1136.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2013-2119?
CVE-2013-2119 is a security vulnerability in Passenger involving Phusion Passenger Denial of Service under CWE-377: Insecure Temporary File.
Which Passenger versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 3.0.21, 4.0.5 across affected packages: passenger.
What version fixes CVE-2013-2119?
Upgrading to 3.0.21, 4.0.5 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is passenger affected?
Yes, passenger is affected in releases prior to 3.0.21, 4.0.5. Upgrade your dependency to 3.0.21, 4.0.5 or later.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2013-2119?
CVE-2013-2119 is classified under CWE-377: Insecure Temporary File (Creating and using insecure temporary files can leave application and system data vulnerable to attack.).
How can I check RubyGems dependencies for CVE-2013-2119?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for passenger'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-9qj7-jvg4-qr2x",
  "modified" : "2023-07-05T18:50:18Z",
  "published" : "2017-10-24T18:33:37Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2013-2119" ],
  "summary" : "Phusion Passenger Denial of Service",
  "details" : "Phusion Passenger gem before 3.0.21 and 4.0.x before 4.0.5 for Ruby allows local users to cause a denial of service (prevent application start) or gain privileges by pre-creating a temporary \"config\" file in a directory with a predictable name in `/tmp/` before it is used by the gem.",
  "severity" : [ ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "RubyGems",
      "name" : "passenger"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "3.0.21"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "RubyGems",
      "name" : "passenger"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "4.0.1"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "4.0.5"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-2119"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013:1136"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2013-2119"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=892813"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-9qj7-jvg4-qr2x"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/passenger/CVE-2013-2119.yml"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://blog.phusion.nl/2013/05/29/phusion-passenger-3-0-21-released"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://blog.phusion.nl/2013/05/29/phusion-passenger-4-0-5-released"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-1136.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-377" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2020-06-16T21:29:24Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2014-01-03T18:54:00Z"
  }
}