CVE-2017-0899 RubyGems Code Injection vulnerability

What is CVE-2017-0899?

CVE-2017-0899 is a critical code injection vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 31 Aug 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

RubyGems version 2.6.12 and earlier is vulnerable to maliciously crafted gem specifications that include terminal escape characters. Printing the gem specification would execute terminal escape sequences.

Weakness: CWE-94, CWE-150

Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-0899?

2 open source packages ship an affected version, including rubygems-update. It affects 8 products.

Products include Debian Debian Linux, Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop, Redhat Enterprise Linux Server, Redhat Enterprise Linux Server Aus, Redhat Enterprise Linux Server Eus, Redhat Enterprise Linux Server Tus and 2 more.

How do I fix CVE-2017-0899?

Upgrade rubygems-update to 2.6.13 or later.

Upgrade, and never evaluate templates, expressions or code built from user input. More about Code injection.

Is CVE-2017-0899 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-0899 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

• CVE-2015-3306 ProFTPD Improper Access Control Exploited Critical 10.0
• CVE-2025-49113 RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data Exploited Critical 9.9
• CVE-2026-24061 GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2025-39682 Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2024-9680 Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free Exploited Critical 9.8

All Debian Debian Linux vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as ALPINE-CVE-2017-0899, CLEANSTART-2026-VB58893, DEBIAN-CVE-2017-0899, GHSA-7gcp-2gmq-w3xh, UBUNTU-CVE-2017-0899.