# CVE-2012-6497: Authlogic Information Exposure vulnerability

> Remote attackers can perform SQL injection via crafted parameters in Authlogic gem if the application secret token is known.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 4 Jan 2013
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2012-6497, GHSA-rx7j-mw4c-76g9

## What is CVE-2012-6497?

CVE-2012-6497 is a medium-severity SQL injection vulnerability in Rubyonrails Rails, published on 4 Jan 2013. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Authlogic gem for Ruby on Rails, when used with certain versions before 3.2.10, makes potentially unsafe find_by_id method calls, which might allow remote attackers to conduct CVE-2012-6496 SQL injection attacks via a crafted parameter in environments that have a known secret_token value, as demonstrated by a value contained in secret_token.rb in an open-source product.

Weakness: CWE-89 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-6497?

2 open source packages ship an affected version, including authlogic. It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `authlogic` | RubyGems | All versions | 3.3.0 |
| `authlogic` | RubyGems | All versions | 3.3.0 |

Products: Rubyonrails Rails.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-6497?

Upgrade authlogic to 3.3.0 or later.

## Is CVE-2012-6497 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-6497 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Rubyonrails Rails

- [CVE-2013-0277](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-0277/): Active Record contains deserialization of arbitrary YAML (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2017-17916](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-17916/): SQL injection in n/a (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2017-17917](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-17917/): SQL injection in n/a (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2026-33195](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-33195/): Rails Active Storage has possible Path Traversal in DiskService (high 8.0)
- [CVE-2024-26142](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26142/): Rails possible ReDoS vulnerability in Accept header parsing in Action Dispatch (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-6497 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-6497 is a medium-severity SQL injection vulnerability in Rubyonrails Rails, published on 4 Jan 2013. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-6497 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- authlogic (RubyGems): affected all versions; fixed in 3.3.0
- authlogic (RubyGems): affected all versions; fixed in 3.3.0

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-6497/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-6497/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-6497
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-6497
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-6497

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-6497/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.