# CVE-2015-3900: RubyGems vulnerable to DNS hijack attack

> Remote attackers can redirect RubyGems requests to malicious domains via DNS hijacking, potentially leading to data theft or code execution.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/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:** 24 Jun 2015
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2015-3900, GHSA-wp3j-rvfp-624h, MGASA-2015-0345, RHSA-2015:1657

## What is CVE-2015-3900?

CVE-2015-3900 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Oracle Solaris, published on 24 Jun 2015. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

RubyGems 2.0.x before 2.0.16, 2.2.x before 2.2.4, and 2.4.x before 2.4.7 does not validate the hostname when fetching gems or making API requests, which allows remote attackers to redirect requests to arbitrary domains via a crafted DNS SRV record, aka a "DNS hijack attack."

Weakness: CWE-254

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-3900?

6 open source packages ship an affected version, including rubygems-update. It affects 4 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `rubygems-update` | RubyGems | From 2.0.0 | 2.0.16 |
| `rubygems-update` | RubyGems | From 2.0.0 | 2.0.16 |
| `rubygems-update` | RubyGems | From 2.2.0 | 2.2.4 |
| `rubygems-update` | RubyGems | From 2.2.0 | 2.2.4 |
| `rubygems-update` | RubyGems | From 2.4.0 | 2.4.7 |
| `rubygems-update` | RubyGems | From 2.4.0 | 2.4.7 |
| `rh-ruby22-ruby` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el6 | All versions | 0:2.2.2-12.el6 |
| `rh-ruby22-ruby-debuginfo` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el6 | All versions | 0:2.2.2-12.el6 |
| `rh-ruby22-ruby-devel` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el6 | All versions | 0:2.2.2-12.el6 |
| `rh-ruby22-ruby-doc` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el6 | All versions | 0:2.2.2-12.el6 |
| `rh-ruby22-ruby-irb` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el6 | All versions | 0:2.2.2-12.el6 |
| `rh-ruby22-ruby-libs` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el6 | All versions | 0:2.2.2-12.el6 |
| `rh-ruby22-ruby-tcltk` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el6 | All versions | 0:2.2.2-12.el6 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygem-bigdecimal` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el6 | All versions | 0:1.2.6-12.el6 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygem-io-console` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el6 | All versions | 0:0.4.3-12.el6 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygem-json` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el6 | All versions | 0:1.8.1-12.el6 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygem-minitest` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el6 | All versions | 0:5.4.3-12.el6 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygem-power_assert` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el6 | All versions | 0:0.2.2-12.el6 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygem-psych` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el6 | All versions | 0:2.0.8-12.el6 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygem-rake` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el6 | All versions | 0:10.4.2-12.el6 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygem-rdoc` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el6 | All versions | 0:4.2.0-12.el6 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygem-test-unit` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el6 | All versions | 0:3.0.8-12.el6 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygems` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el6 | All versions | 0:2.4.5-12.el6 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygems-devel` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el6 | All versions | 0:2.4.5-12.el6 |
| `rh-ruby22-ruby` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el7 | All versions | 0:2.2.2-12.el7 |
| `rh-ruby22-ruby-debuginfo` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el7 | All versions | 0:2.2.2-12.el7 |
| `rh-ruby22-ruby-devel` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el7 | All versions | 0:2.2.2-12.el7 |
| `rh-ruby22-ruby-doc` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el7 | All versions | 0:2.2.2-12.el7 |
| `rh-ruby22-ruby-irb` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el7 | All versions | 0:2.2.2-12.el7 |
| `rh-ruby22-ruby-libs` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el7 | All versions | 0:2.2.2-12.el7 |
| `rh-ruby22-ruby-tcltk` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el7 | All versions | 0:2.2.2-12.el7 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygem-bigdecimal` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el7 | All versions | 0:1.2.6-12.el7 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygem-io-console` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el7 | All versions | 0:0.4.3-12.el7 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygem-json` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el7 | All versions | 0:1.8.1-12.el7 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygem-minitest` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el7 | All versions | 0:5.4.3-12.el7 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygem-power_assert` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el7 | All versions | 0:0.2.2-12.el7 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygem-psych` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el7 | All versions | 0:2.0.8-12.el7 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygem-rake` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el7 | All versions | 0:10.4.2-12.el7 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygem-rdoc` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el7 | All versions | 0:4.2.0-12.el7 |
| `rh-ruby22-rubygem-test-unit` | Red Hat:rhel_software_collections:2::el7 | All versions | 0:3.0.8-12.el7 |

Products: Oracle Solaris, Redhat Enterprise Linux, Ruby-Lang Ruby, Rubygems Rubygems.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-3900?

Upgrade rubygems-update to a fixed version for your release line: 2.0.16, 2.2.4 or 2.4.7.

## Is CVE-2015-3900 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-3900 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Oracle Solaris

- [CVE-2020-14871](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-14871/): Oracle Solaris and Zettabyte File System (ZFS) Unspecified (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-3010](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-3010/): Oracle Solaris Privilege Escalation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-46978](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46978/): Missing authorization in Oracle Solaris (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2017-3623](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-3623/): Other in Solaris Operating System (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2014-0397](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-0397/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2015-3900 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-3900 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Oracle Solaris, published on 24 Jun 2015. 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-2015-3900 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- rubygems-update (RubyGems): affected from 2.0.0; fixed in 2.0.16
- rubygems-update (RubyGems): affected from 2.0.0; fixed in 2.0.16
- rubygems-update (RubyGems): affected from 2.2.0; fixed in 2.2.4
- rubygems-update (RubyGems): affected from 2.2.0; fixed in 2.2.4
- rubygems-update (RubyGems): affected from 2.4.0; fixed in 2.4.7
- rubygems-update (RubyGems): affected from 2.4.0; fixed in 2.4.7

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-2015-3900/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3900/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-3900
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-3900
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-3900

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3900/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
