GHSA-JP5V-5GX4-JMJ9

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2020-05-26 15:11 – Updated: 2026-05-05 22:16
VLAI
Summary
Ability to forge per-form CSRF tokens in Rails
Details

It is possible to, given a global CSRF token such as the one present in the authenticity_token meta tag, forge a per-form CSRF token for any action for that session.

Impact

Given the ability to extract the global CSRF token, an attacker would be able to construct a per-form CSRF token for that session.

Workarounds

This is a low-severity security issue. As such, no workaround is necessarily until such time as the application can be upgraded.

Severity
4.3 (Medium)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
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{
  "affected": [
    {
      "database_specific": {
        "last_known_affected_version_range": "\u003c= 5.2.4.2"
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "RubyGems",
        "name": "actionpack"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "5.0.0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "5.2.4.3"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "database_specific": {
        "last_known_affected_version_range": "\u003c= 6.0.3"
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "RubyGems",
        "name": "actionpack"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "6.0.0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "6.0.3.1"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2020-8166"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-352"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": true,
    "github_reviewed_at": "2020-05-26T15:10:56Z",
    "nvd_published_at": "2020-07-02T19:15:12Z",
    "severity": "MODERATE"
  },
  "details": "It is possible to, given a global CSRF token such as the one present in the authenticity_token meta tag, forge a per-form CSRF token for any action for that session.\n\nImpact\n------\n\nGiven the ability to extract the global CSRF token, an attacker would be able to construct a per-form CSRF token for that session.\n\nWorkarounds\n-----------\n\nThis is a low-severity security issue. As such, no workaround is necessarily until such time as the application can be upgraded.",
  "id": "GHSA-jp5v-5gx4-jmj9",
  "modified": "2026-05-05T22:16:48Z",
  "published": "2020-05-26T15:11:13Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-8166"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://hackerone.com/reports/732415"
    },
    {
      "type": "PACKAGE",
      "url": "https://github.com/rails/rails"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/actionpack/CVE-2020-8166.yml"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rubyonrails-security/NOjKiGeXUgw"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://groups.google.com/g/rubyonrails-security/c/NOjKiGeXUgw"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4766"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ],
  "summary": "Ability to forge per-form CSRF tokens in Rails"
}



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