Vulnerability Database

352,427

Total vulnerabilities in the database

Nokogiri: Possible Out-of-Bounds Read in `Nokogiri::XML::NodeSet#[]` — nokogiri

Out-of-bounds Read

Summary

Nokogiri::XML::NodeSet#[] (and its alias #slice) checked the requested index against the node set's bounds using a 32-bit-truncated copy of the index. A large negative index could pass the check and then be used at full width, reading outside the node set's storage. On CRuby this is an out-of-bounds read that typically crashes the process; on JRuby it is not memory-unsafe but returns an incorrect node.

Nokogiri 1.19.4 performs the bounds check against the full-width index.

Severity

The Nokogiri maintainers have evaluated this as medium severity.

Exploitation requires an application to pass an attacker-controlled integer to NodeSet#[]. The primary impact is a controlled crash (denial of service), with potential for memory disclosure on CRuby.

On JRuby, Nokogiri is not affected by this vulnerability.

Mitigation

Upgrade to Nokogiri 1.19.4 or later.

As a workaround, applications that index a NodeSet with externally-supplied integers can validate the index against node_set.length before use, or avoid passing untrusted values as an index.

Credit

This issue was responsibly reported by Zheng Yu from depthfirst.com.

  • Published: Jun 19, 2026
  • Updated: Jun 20, 2026
  • GHSA: GHSA-5prr-v3j2-97mh
  • Severity: Medium
  • Exploit:
  • CISA KEV:

No technical information available.

Frequently Asked Questions

A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.

A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.

Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.

Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.

SynScan combines attack surface monitoring and continuous security auditing to keep your inventory current, flag high-impact vulnerabilities early, and help you turn raw findings into a practical remediation plan.