Skip to main content
VulnerabilityPublished

CVE-2026-126075: Possible XSS vulnerability in Active Support MessagePack serializer

Affects activesupportSource GCVE Database

0
Compare
Authoritative record:CVE-2026-126075· Medium 4.7

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.7 Medium : upgrade to 8.1.4.1 when convenient.

Data as of 10 Nov 2026, 22:34 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
4.7Medium
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

Thin evidence

One scorer or none
CVSS scores by source
CNA (GitHub_M)CVSS 3.14.7
Patch
Available – fixed in 8.1.4.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 10 Nov 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponized: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 10 Nov 2026.

What to do

Upgrade activesupport to 8.1.4.1.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
RubyGemsactivesupportAffected
  • >=8.1.0.beta1 <8.1.4.1
Fixed in
  • 8.1.4.1

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

Description

### Impact `ActiveSupport::MessagePack` serializes an `ActiveSupport::SafeBuffer` as its bytes alone and deserializes it as a new `SafeBuffer`, so a buffer that is no longer `html_safe?` (for example, one mutated in place with `gsub!`) is restored as `html_safe`. If such a buffer holds untrusted input and is stored through a MessagePack serializer, rendering it after it is loaded bypasses ERB auto-escaping, possibly leading to XSS. Applications on Rails 8.1 are affected if they use a MessagePack serializer, such as `config.action_dispatch.cookies_serializer = :message_pack` or `:message_pack_allow_marshal`, or `serializer: :message_pack` for `Rails.cache`, `ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier` or `ActiveSupport::MessageEncryptor`, and store a `SafeBuffer` that was mutated in place with untrusted input. Rails 8.0 and earlier do not serialize `SafeBuffer` with MessagePack and are not affected. ### Details The fixed releases serialize a `SafeBuffer` that is not `html_safe?` with a marker and deserialize it as a `String`; a `SafeBuffer` that is `html_safe?` keeps the existing format. Versions without the fix cannot read an unsafe buffer serialized by the fixed releases, so during a rolling deploy a cookie or cache entry holding one could fail to load on a process that has not been upgraded. ### Workarounds Applications that cannot upgrade can convert a `SafeBuffer` to a `String` with `to_str` before storing it in a value that a MessagePack serializer writes. ### Releases The fixed releases are available at the normal locations. Patches for those who cannot upgrade at once: - 8.1: https://github.com/rails/rails/commit/4ca090665976e6fbc471c38689b399f84b43cdc7.patch ### Credit This issue was responsibly reported by HackerOne researcher [jcwilk](https://hackerone.com/jcwilk).

References

Community reviews

Loading reviews…