Summary
Denial of service or RCE from libxml2 and libxslt
Nokogiri is affected by series of vulnerabilities in libxml2 and libxslt, which are libraries Nokogiri depends on. It was discovered that libxml2 and libxslt incorrectly handled certain malformed documents, which can allow malicious users to cause issues ranging from denial of service to remote code execution attacks.
Impact
A read operation accesses a memory location beyond the intended buffer boundary. Typical impact: sensitive data disclosure or crash.
CVE-2015-8806 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (1.6.8); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2015-8806? CVE-2015-8806 is a high-severity out-of-bounds read vulnerability in nokogiri (rubygems), affecting versions >= 1.6.0, < 1.6.8. It is fixed in 1.6.8. A read operation accesses a memory location beyond the intended buffer boundary.
- How severe is CVE-2015-8806? CVE-2015-8806 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of nokogiri are affected by CVE-2015-8806? nokogiri (rubygems) versions >= 1.6.0, < 1.6.8 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2015-8806? Yes. CVE-2015-8806 is fixed in 1.6.8. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2015-8806 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2015-8806 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2015-8806 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2015-8806? Upgrade
nokogirito 1.6.8 or later.