CVE-2024-37031

activeadmin vulnerable to stored persistent cross-site scripting (XSS) in dynamic form legends

Workarounds

Users can workaround this problem without upgrading by explicitly escaping the form name using an HTML escaping utility. For example:

  form do |f|
    f.inputs name: ERB::Util.html_escape(resource.name) do
      f.input :name
      f.input :description
    end

    f.actions
  end

Upgrading is of course recommended though.

References

https://owasp.org/www-community/attacks/xss/#stored-xss-attacks

Users settings their active admin form legends dynamically may be vulnerable to stored XSS, as long as its value can be injected directly by a malicious user.

For example:

• A public web application allows users to create entities with arbitrary names.
• Active Admin is used to administrate these entities through a private backend.
• The form to edit these entities in the private backend has the following shape (note the dynamic name value dependent on an attribute of the resource):

  form do |f|
    f.inputs name: resource.name do
      f.input :name
      f.input :description
    end

    f.actions
  end

Then a malicious user could create an entity with a payload that would get executed in the active admin administrator's browser.

Both form blocks with an implicit or explicit name (i.e., both form resource.name or form name: resource.name would suffer from the problem), where the value of the name can be arbitrarily set by non admin users.

Untrusted input is rendered as active markup in a victim's browser, which can run script in their session. Typical impact: session or credential theft, and actions taken as the user.

CVE-2024-37031 has a CVSS score of 7.2 (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 (3.2.2, 4.0.0.beta7); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

Already deployed Kodem?

The problem has been fixed in ActiveAdmin 3.2.2 and ActiveAdmin 4.0.0.beta7.

1. What is CVE-2024-37031? CVE-2024-37031 is a high-severity cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in activeadmin (rubygems), affecting versions < 3.2.2. It is fixed in 3.2.2, 4.0.0.beta7. Untrusted input is rendered as active markup in a victim's browser, which can run script in their session.
2. How severe is CVE-2024-37031? CVE-2024-37031 has a CVSS score of 7.2 (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.
3. Which versions of activeadmin are affected by CVE-2024-37031? activeadmin (rubygems) versions < 3.2.2 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for CVE-2024-37031? Yes. CVE-2024-37031 is fixed in 3.2.2, 4.0.0.beta7. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is CVE-2024-37031 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2024-37031 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
6. What actually determines whether CVE-2024-37031 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.
7. How do I fix CVE-2024-37031?
   • Upgrade activeadmin to 3.2.2 or later
   • Upgrade activeadmin to 4.0.0.beta7 or later

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