Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2014-2734

The openssl extension in Ruby 2.x does not properly maintain the state of process memory after a file is reopened, which allows remote attackers to spoof signatures within the context of a Ruby script that attempts signature verification after performing a certain sequence of filesystem operations. NOTE: this issue has been disputed by the Ruby OpenSSL team and third parties, who state that the original demonstration PoC contains errors and redundant or unnecessarily-complex code that does not appear to be related to a demonstration of the issue. As of 20140502, CVE is not aware of any public comment by the original researcher

Security Impact Summary

CVE-2014-2734 is a security vulnerability that . Impacting 1 product from ruby-lang organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Documented in 2014, this vulnerability occurred amid the cloud computing expansion era, where traditional network perimeter security models were being reevaluated. Organizations were transitioning from isolated infrastructure to interconnected systems, creating new attack surfaces that vulnerabilities like this could exploit.

Published

2014-04-24T23:55:05.707

Last Modified

2025-04-12T10:46:40.837

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv2: 5.8 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N

Access Vector: NETWORK
Access Complexity: MEDIUM
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: PARTIAL
Integrity Impact: PARTIAL
Availability Impact: NONE

Exploitability Score

8.6

Impact Score

4.9

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-399

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	ruby-lang	ruby	2.0	Yes
Application	ruby-lang	ruby	2.0.0	Yes
Application	ruby-lang	ruby	2.0.0	Yes
Application	ruby-lang	ruby	2.0.0	Yes
Application	ruby-lang	ruby	2.0.0	Yes
Application	ruby-lang	ruby	2.0.0	Yes
Application	ruby-lang	ruby	2.0.0	Yes
Application	ruby-lang	ruby	2.0.0	Yes
Application	ruby-lang	ruby	2.0.0	Yes
Application	ruby-lang	ruby	2.1	Yes
Application	ruby-lang	ruby	2.1	Yes
Application	ruby-lang	ruby	2.1.1	Yes

References

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/126218/Ruby-OpenSSL-Private-Key-Spoofing.html Exploit ([email protected])
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2014/Apr/231 Exploit ([email protected])
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2014/May/13 ([email protected])
http://www.osvdb.org/106006 ([email protected])
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/66956 ([email protected])
https://gist.github.com/10446549 ([email protected])
https://gist.github.com/emboss/91696b56cd227c8a0c13 ([email protected])
https://github.com/adrienthebo/cve-2014-2734/ ([email protected])
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7601973 ([email protected])
https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/news/2014/05/09/dispute-of-vulnerability-cve-2014-2734/ ([email protected])
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/126218/Ruby-OpenSSL-Private-Key-Spoofing.html Exploit (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2014/Apr/231 Exploit (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2014/May/13 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.osvdb.org/106006 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/66956 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://gist.github.com/10446549 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://gist.github.com/emboss/91696b56cd227c8a0c13 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://github.com/adrienthebo/cve-2014-2734/ (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7601973 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/news/2014/05/09/dispute-of-vulnerability-cve-2014-2734/ (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For ruby-lang's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.