The BigDecimal library in Ruby 1.8.6 before p369 and 1.8.7 before p173 allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via a string argument that represents a large number, as demonstrated by an attempted conversion to the Float data type.
CVE-2009-1904
This CVE was only ever scored under CVSS v2.0. NVD CVSS v2.0 base 5.0 — v2 rates that MEDIUM (v2 bands: LOW 0.0–3.9 / MEDIUM 4.0–6.9 / HIGH 7.0–10.0; v2 has no CRITICAL band). Vector AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P. CVSS v2 is an older, coarser metric than v3.1/v4.0 (no Scope, no User Interaction, no Attack Requirements), so it is not directly comparable to a v3 or v4 score. NVD has never re-scored this record under v3. EPSS predicts 7.6% exploitation probability in the next 30 days, which is reflected in EG Risk but does not lift the v2 base. Confidence: LOW.
- Lower severity and no public exploit yet
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v2.0 (legacy)
- 5.0MEDIUMNVD never assigned a CVSS v3 rating to this CVE
- EG Score
- 5.0(low)
- EG Risk
- 43(Track)EG Risk 43/100SSVC: Track
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computedSeverity50% × 45%Exploitation40% × 40%Automatability30% × 15%Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence. - EPSS PROB
- 8%
- EPSS %ILE
- 95%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
June 11, 2009
Last Modified
April 23, 2026
References (62)
- cve@mitrehttp://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=532689
- cve@mitrehttp://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=273213
- cve@mitrehttp://github.com/NZKoz/bigdecimal-segfault-fix/tree/master
- cve@mitrehttp://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-security/msg/fad60751e2b9b4f6?dmode=source
- cve@mitrehttp://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2010//Mar/msg00001.html
- cve@mitrehttp://mail-index.netbsd.org/pkgsrc-changes/2009/06/10/msg024708.html
- cve@mitrehttp://osvdb.org/55031
- cve@mitrehttp://redmine.ruby-lang.org/issues/show/794
- cve@mitrehttp://secunia.com/advisories/35399
- cve@mitrehttp://secunia.com/advisories/35527
- cve@mitrehttp://secunia.com/advisories/35593
- cve@mitrehttp://secunia.com/advisories/35699
- cve@mitrehttp://secunia.com/advisories/35937
- cve@mitrehttp://secunia.com/advisories/37705
- cve@mitrehttp://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200906-02.xml
Patch Availability(3)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fixed in / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ubuntu | libruby1.9 (1.9.0.5-1ubuntu1.2) @ karmic | 2026-05-30 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | libruby1.9 (1.9.0.2-9ubuntu1.1) @ jaunty | 2026-05-30 | ubuntu |
| redhat | ruby-0:1.8.5-5.el5_3.7 | 2009-07-02 | redhat |
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
Affected Packages
(4 across 2 ecosystems)
Debian:4.0(2)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| ruby1.8 | 1.8.5-4, 1.8.5-4etch1, 1.8.5-4etch2, 1.8.5-4etch3, 1.8.5-4etch4 | 1.8.5-4etch5 | — |
| ruby1.9 | 1.9.0+20060609-1, 1.9.0+20060609-1etch1, 1.9.0+20060609-1etch2, 1.9.0+20060609-1etch3, 1.9.0+20060609-1etch4 | 1.9.0+20060609-1etch5 | — |
Debian:5.0(2)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| ruby1.8 | 1.8.7.72-3 | 1.8.7.72-3lenny1 | — |
| ruby1.9 | 1.9.0.2-9 | 1.9.0.2-9lenny1 | — |
All Vendor Advisories
(3)
Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 2× in last 7d / 10× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 108 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-08-27 14:19 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-25 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-19 16:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-15 01:24 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-30 16:22 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-26 13:38 UTCEG score recompute▲ 5.00
- 2026-07-25 14:12 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-23 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 00:59 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-23 00:37 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-23 00:03 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 21:42 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-06-08 14:13 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-06-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-05-31 00:13 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-31 00:13 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-30 16:31 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-05-30 16:31 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-05-30 16:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-05-29 13:40 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-05-26 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-26 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
Publicly available exploits
(1 reference)Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 GitHub PoC). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.
- GitHub PoCNZKoz/bigdecimal-segfault-fixFirst seen Jun 8, 2009
Provides a quick workaround for the segfault bug in Ruby (CVE-2009-1904)
Open source ↗
Frequently asked(4)
What is CVE-2009-1904?
When was CVE-2009-1904 disclosed?
Is CVE-2009-1904 actively exploited?
How do I remediate CVE-2009-1904?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2009-1904
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2009-1904?
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