CVE-2020-5257: Administrate SQL Injection Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-2p5p-m353-833w
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CVSS 7.7
CWE-943
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2020-5257 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.7) sql injection vulnerability (CWE-943: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Data Query Logic) affecting Administrate libraries in the RubyGems ecosystem. The issue involves sort order sql injection in administrate. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 0.13.0.

CVE-2020-5257 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2020-5257
GHSA Identifier GHSA-2p5p-m353-833w
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.7
CWE Classification CWE-943: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Data Query Logic
Affected Product Administrate
Package Ecosystem RubyGems
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.7

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity High (AC:H)
Privileges Required Low (PR:L)
User Interaction Required (UI:R)
Scope Changed (S:C)
Confidentiality High (C:H)
Integrity High (I:H)
Availability None (A:N)

How to Fix CVE-2020-5257

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

administrate fixed: 0.13.0 
Upgrade administrate to 0.13.0
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 administrate

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2020-5257, inspect your project dependencies for Administrate:

inspect dependencies for administrate

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Administrate in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 0.13.0), 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-943: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Data Query Logic, where the product generates a query intended to access or manipulate data in a data store such as a database, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that can modify the intended logic of the query. In Administrate, 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

In Administrate (rubygem) before version 0.13.0, when sorting by attributes on a dashboard, the direction parameter was not validated before being interpolated into the SQL query. This could present a SQL injection if the attacker were able to modify the `direction` parameter and bypass ActiveRecord SQL protections. Whilst this does have a high-impact, to exploit this you need access to the Administrate dashboards, which we would expect to be behind authentication. This is patched in wersion 0.13.0.

CVE-2020-5257 Affected Administrate Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
0.13.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
administrate
gem/administrate
RubyGems
< 0.13.0
0.13.0

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/thoughtbot/administrate/security/advisories/GHSA-2p5p-m353-833w
NVD — CVE-2020-5257 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-5257
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/thoughtbot/administrate/commit/3ab838b83c5f565fba50e0c6f66fe4517f98eed3
GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-2p5p-m353-833w
Administrate Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/administrate/CVE-2020-5257.yml

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2020-5257?
CVE-2020-5257 is a security vulnerability in Administrate involving Sort order SQL injection in Administrate under CWE-943: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Data Query Logic.
Which Administrate versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 0.13.0 across affected packages: administrate.
What version fixes CVE-2020-5257?
Upgrading to 0.13.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is administrate affected?
Yes, administrate is affected in releases prior to 0.13.0. Upgrade your dependency to 0.13.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-5257?
CVE-2020-5257 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.7 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2020-5257?
CVE-2020-5257 is classified under CWE-943: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Data Query Logic (The product generates a query intended to access or manipulate data in a data store such as a database, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that can modify the intended logic of the query.).
How can I check RubyGems dependencies for CVE-2020-5257?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for administrate'. 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-2p5p-m353-833w",
  "modified" : "2021-01-08T20:25:54Z",
  "published" : "2020-03-13T21:05:44Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2020-5257" ],
  "summary" : "Sort order SQL injection in Administrate",
  "details" : "In Administrate (rubygem) before version 0.13.0, when sorting by attributes on a dashboard,\nthe direction parameter was not validated before being interpolated into the SQL query.\nThis could present a SQL injection if the attacker were able to modify the `direction` parameter and bypass ActiveRecord SQL protections.\n\nWhilst this does have a high-impact, to exploit this you need access to the Administrate dashboards, which we would expect to be behind authentication.\n\nThis is patched in wersion 0.13.0.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "RubyGems",
      "name" : "administrate"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.13.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/thoughtbot/administrate/security/advisories/GHSA-2p5p-m353-833w"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-5257"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/thoughtbot/administrate/commit/3ab838b83c5f565fba50e0c6f66fe4517f98eed3"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-2p5p-m353-833w"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/administrate/CVE-2020-5257.yml"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-943" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2020-03-13T21:05:20Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}