Summary
RedCloth Regular Expression Denial of Service issue
A Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) issue was discovered in the sanitize_html function of RedCloth gem. This vulnerability allows attackers to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via supplying a crafted payload.
Impact
A regular expression with worst-case exponential or polynomial matching time is applied to untrusted input, causing excessive CPU use. Typical impact: denial of service when input is crafted to trigger backtracking.
CVE-2023-31606 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 (4.3.3); 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-2023-31606? CVE-2023-31606 is a high-severity inefficient regular expression (ReDoS) vulnerability in RedCloth (rubygems), affecting versions < 4.3.3. It is fixed in 4.3.3. A regular expression with worst-case exponential or polynomial matching time is applied to untrusted input, causing excessive CPU use.
- How severe is CVE-2023-31606? CVE-2023-31606 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 RedCloth are affected by CVE-2023-31606? RedCloth (rubygems) versions < 4.3.3 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2023-31606? Yes. CVE-2023-31606 is fixed in 4.3.3. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2023-31606 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2023-31606 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-2023-31606 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-2023-31606? Upgrade
RedClothto 4.3.3 or later.