# CVE-2024-41123: REXML DoS vulnerability

> An attacker can cause a denial of service in applications using the REXML Ruby library by sending XML with specific character sequences.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 1 Aug 2024
- **Updated:** 3 Nov 2025
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2024-41123, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-41123, ECHO-ec4d-0931-98ce, GHSA-r55c-59qm-vjw6, MINI-jwh7-xcc4-35p8, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-41123

## What is CVE-2024-41123?

CVE-2024-41123 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in ruby rexml, published on 1 Aug 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

REXML is an XML toolkit for Ruby. The REXML gem before 3.3.2 has some DoS vulnerabilities when it parses an XML that has many specific characters such as whitespace character, `>]` and `]>`. The REXML gem 3.3.3 or later include the patches to fix these vulnerabilities.

Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-41123?

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


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `rexml` | RubyGems | All versions | 3.3.3 |
| `rexml` | RubyGems | All versions | 3.3.3 |

Products: Ruby-Lang Rexml.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-41123?

Upgrade rexml to 3.3.3 or later.

## Is CVE-2024-41123 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-41123 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in ruby rexml

- [CVE-2024-41946](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-41946/): REXML DoS vulnerability (medium 5.3)
- [CVE-2024-35176](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-35176/): REXML contains a denial of service vulnerability (medium 5.3)
- [CVE-2025-58767](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-58767/): REXML has a DoS condition when parsing malformed XML file (low 1.2)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-41123 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-41123 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in ruby rexml, published on 1 Aug 2024. 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-2024-41123 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- rexml (RubyGems): affected all versions; fixed in 3.3.3
- rexml (RubyGems): affected all versions; fixed in 3.3.3

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-2024-41123/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-41123/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-41123
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-41123
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-41123

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-41123/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.