An issue was discovered in the OpenSSL library in Ruby before 2.3.8, 2.4.x before 2.4.5, 2.5.x before 2.5.2, and 2.6.x before 2.6.0-preview3. When two OpenSSL::X509::Name objects are compared using ==, depending on the ordering, non-equal objects may return true. When the first argument is one character longer than the second, or the second argument contains a character that is one less than a character in the same position of the first argument, the result of == will be true. This could be leveraged to create an illegitimate certificate that may be accepted as legitimate and then used in signing or encryption operations.
This vulnerability carries a CRITICAL severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 9.8, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 5 products from ruby-lang, from ruby-lang, from canonical and 2 others, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.
First disclosed in 2018, this vulnerability was reported during a period defined by widespread IoT adoption challenges, mobile security concerns, and the emergence of advanced persistent threat (APT) techniques. Contemporary mitigation strategies focused on secure development practices and third-party component vetting.
2018-11-16T18:29:00.943
2026-06-17T01:44:12.863
Modified
CVSSv3.0: 9.8 (CRITICAL)
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
10.0
6.4
| Type | Vendor | Product | Version/Range | Vulnerable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application | ruby-lang | openssl | < 2.1.2 | Yes |
| Application | ruby-lang | ruby | ≤ 2.3.7 | Yes |
| Application | ruby-lang | ruby | ≤ 2.4.4 | Yes |
| Application | ruby-lang | ruby | ≤ 2.5.1 | Yes |
| Application | ruby-lang | ruby | 2.6.0 | Yes |
| Application | ruby-lang | ruby | 2.6.0 | Yes |
| Operating System | canonical | ubuntu_linux | 14.04 | Yes |
| Operating System | canonical | ubuntu_linux | 16.04 | Yes |
| Operating System | canonical | ubuntu_linux | 18.04 | Yes |
| Operating System | canonical | ubuntu_linux | 18.10 | Yes |
| Operating System | debian | debian_linux | 8.0 | Yes |
| Operating System | debian | debian_linux | 9.0 | Yes |
| Operating System | redhat | enterprise_linux | 7.4 | Yes |
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.