Summary
Kaminari Insecure File Permissions Vulnerability
A moderate severity security vulnerability has been identified in the Kaminari pagination library for Ruby on Rails, concerning insecure file permissions. This advisory outlines the vulnerability, affected versions, and provides guidance for mitigation.
Resolution
Those who use the gem install command, such as gem install kaminari -v 0.16.1, gem unpack kaminari -v 0.16.1, or bundle install to download the package would not be affected and no action is required.
Those who manually download and decompressing the affected versions are advised to update to 0.16.2 or later version of Kaminari where file permissions have been adjusted to enhance security.
Workarounds
If upgrading is not feasible immediately, manually adjusting the file permissions on the server to 644 to restrict access is a viable interim measure.
All Affected Versions:
lib/kaminari/models/page_scope_methods.rb
In addition to the previously mentioned files, security tools like AWS Inspector might also identify other files as unsafe. These files, although not loaded or used at runtime, may still be flagged. To avoid any potential confusion in your logs and ensure system integrity, we recommend updating the permissions for these files as well. This proactive measure helps maintain a clean security posture and minimizes unnecessary alerts.
Version 0.15.0 and 0.15.1:
spec/models/mongo_mapper/mongo_mapper_spec.rb
Version 0.16.0:
spec/models/mongo_mapper/mongo_mapper_spec.rb
spec/models/mongoid/mongoid_spec.rb
Version 0.16.1:
spec/models/active_record/scopes_spec.rb
spec/models/mongo_mapper/mongo_mapper_spec.rb
spec/models/mongoid/mongoid_spec.rb
gemfiles/data_mapper_12.gemfile
gemfiles/active_record_32.gemfile
References
Official Kaminari repository link (this page)
Acknowledgements
We thank Gareth Jones for discovering and reporting this issue. Their diligent work is instrumental in our ongoing efforts to maintain and improve software security.
Impact
This vulnerability is of moderate severity due to the potential for unauthorized write access to particular Ruby files managed by the library. Such access could lead to the alteration of application behavior or data integrity issues.
CVE-2024-32978 has a CVSS score of 6.6 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, high 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 (0.16.2); 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-2024-32978? CVE-2024-32978 is a medium-severity security vulnerability in kaminari (rubygems), affecting versions >= 0.15.0, <= 0.16.1. It is fixed in 0.16.2.
- How severe is CVE-2024-32978? CVE-2024-32978 has a CVSS score of 6.6 (Medium). 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 kaminari are affected by CVE-2024-32978? kaminari (rubygems) versions >= 0.15.0, <= 0.16.1 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2024-32978? Yes. CVE-2024-32978 is fixed in 0.16.2. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2024-32978 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2024-32978 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-2024-32978 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-2024-32978? Upgrade
kaminarito 0.16.2 or later.