Action Pack in Ruby on Rails before 3.2.22.2, 4.x before 4.1.14.2, and 4.2.x before 4.2.5.2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary Ruby code by leveraging an application's unrestricted use of the render method.
CVE-2016-2098
“▲” beside the score: it is higher than NVD's CVSS score.
Score elevated to 8.9 because EPSS predicted 81% probability of exploitation within the next 30 days (99th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs) when EchelonGraph scored this CVE. NVD baseline CVSS 7.3 retained for reference. Confidence: see factors.
- High exploitation likelihood — EPSS 81%
- Public exploit code is available (Metasploit, Exploit-DB, marked verified by Exploit-DB, other public proof-of-concept code)
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 7.3
- EG Score
- 8.9HIGHhigh confidence
- EG Risk
- 65EG Risk 65/100
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.
How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)Severity73% × 45%Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 7.3 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.Exploitation81% × 40%FIRST EPSS: the 30-day exploitation probability when EchelonGraph scored this CVE.Automatability0% × 15%CISA's BOD 26-04 default: no one has published Automatable for this CVE, and CISA treats it as “no” for a CVE not in KEV.SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.Exploitation public PoC (exploit code on record) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). EchelonGraph holds no SSVC assessment of this CVE from CISA: none of these inputs is from Vulnrichment. EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high. - EPSS PROB
- 81%
- EPSS %ILE
- 99th
- KEV
- Not listed
What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)
The EG score (8.9): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 8.9 is EPSS's lift toward 9.0 from its impact severity (EG Severity, CVSS 7.3 HIGH): a likelihood of exploitation, not impact.
- EG Severity
- 7.3 HIGHCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.NVD CVSS v3 · CVSS v3.0 or v3.1
- EG Likelihood
- 81% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-21). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
- Confirmed exploitation
- None on record (CISA KEV, EG-KEV Tier 1)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
- EG Priority
- SSVC Track* at medium mission impactTrack at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.CISA BOD 26-04: 14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.Each input and its source: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.
A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.
Exploitation public PoC (exploit code on record) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). EchelonGraph holds no SSVC assessment of this CVE from CISA: none of these inputs is from Vulnrichment. EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table
BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.
In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). Where an input reads “CISA's BOD 26-04 default”, no one has published it for this CVE, and CISA's implementation guidance says: “If “Automatable” and “Technical Impact” information items about a CVE ID are not available and the CVE ID is not in the KEV Catalog, CISA will treat its values as “no” and “total,” respectively, until CISA or a third party provides metadata about the CVE ID. CISA will always provide the Vulnrichment data for a CVE ID listed in the KEV Catalog.” Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it
Published
April 7, 2016
Last Modified
June 17, 2026
References (12)
- secalert@redhat · CVE Programhttp://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00057.html
- secalert@redhat · CVE Programhttp://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00080.html
- secalert@redhat · CVE Programhttp://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00083.html
- secalert@redhat · CVE Programhttp://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00086.html
- secalert@redhat · CVE Programhttp://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-04/msg00006.html
- secalert@redhat · CVE Programhttp://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-04/msg00053.html
- secalert@redhat · CVE Programhttp://weblog.rubyonrails.org/2016/2/29/Rails-4-2-5-2-4-1-14-2-3-2-22-2-have-been-released/Patch · Vendor Advisory
- secalert@redhat · CVE Programhttp://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3509
- secalert@redhat · CVE Programhttp://www.securityfocus.com/bid/83725 (archived copy: the site no longer serves it)
- secalert@redhat · CVE Programhttp://www.securitytracker.com/id/1035122
- secalert@redhat · CVE Programhttps://groups.google.com/forum/message/raw?msg=rubyonrails-security/ly-IH-fxr_Q/WLoOhcMZIAAJ
- secalert@redhat · CVE Programhttps://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40086/
Vendor Advisories for CVE-2016-2098(3)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
Patch Availability(3)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fix (by version range) / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| redhat | ruby193-rubygem-activesupport-1:3.2.8-6.el7 | 2016-03-15 | redhat |
| redhat | rh-ror41-rubygem-actionview-0:4.1.5-5.el7 | 2016-03-15 | redhat |
| redhat | ror40-rubygem-activesupport-1:4.0.2-4.el7 | 2016-03-15 | 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
(7 across 7 ecosystems)
Debian:11(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| rails | — |
| — |
Debian:12(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| rails | — |
| — |
Debian:13(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| rails | — |
| — |
Debian:14(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| rails | — |
| — |
Debian:7(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| ruby-actionpack-3.2 | 3.2.6-6, 3.2.6-6+deb7u1, 3.2.6-6+deb7u2 |
| — |
Debian:8(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| rails | 2:4.1.8-1, 2:4.1.8-1+deb8u1 |
| — |
RubyGems(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| actionpack | 4.2.0 ... 4.2.5.rc2 (15 versions) |
| — |
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 6× in last 7d / 21× in last 30d)
Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. 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. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.
A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. 17 repeat rows among the latest 100 are merged into the row they repeat.
- 2026-10-23 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-22 08:20 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-22 08:20 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-21 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-18 10:52 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-17 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-14 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-12 20:44 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-12 01:08 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-09 20:01 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-08 19:56 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-10-07 23:40 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-06 15:11 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-05 17:38 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-04 23:17 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-01 19:43 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-30 14:58 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-30 09:12 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-27 13:40 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-26 15:53 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-24 13:59 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-19 02:06 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-09-18 19:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-12 14:55 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-10 09:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
Show 58 moreShow fewer
- 2026-08-31 05:49 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-30 19:12 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-26 14:41 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-21 23:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-19 16:59 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-16 02:09 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-15 01:25 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-14 13:24 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-12 13:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-11 13:36 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-06 13:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-02 02:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-30 16:23 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-30 01:54 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-30 01:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-28 15:31 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-26 14:50 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-25 14:13 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-23 01:22 UTCEG score recompute▲ 1.60
- 2026-07-22 22:01 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 14:04 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-20 17:03 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-15 01:56 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-13 06:09 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-12 11:07 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-09 19:05 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-04 06:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-01 15:02 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-27 03:05 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-23 16:30 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-15 17:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 81% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-13 22:57 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 87% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-12 23:09 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 87% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-11 13:57 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 87% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-10 22:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 87% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-10 13:18 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 87% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-08 14:14 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 87% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 87% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-06 21:59 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-05 22:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 87% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 87% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-02 20:10 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 83% · 99th percentile
- 2026-05-31 22:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 83% · 99th percentile
- 2026-05-31 00:14 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 83% · 99th percentile
- 2026-05-29 13:41 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
- 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
- 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
- 2026-05-22 20:59 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-05-22 20:59 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-05-21 22:40 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
- 2026-05-21 22:36 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-05-20 22:37 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
- 2026-05-18 21:30 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 84% · 99th percentile
Publicly available exploits
(7 references)Public exploit code is referenced for this CVE (1 Metasploit module, 1 Exploit-DB entry, 5 GitHub PoCs). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly.
- Exploit-DBEDB-40086✓ verifiedPublished Jul 11, 2016
Ruby on Rails ActionPack Inline ERB - Code Execution (Metasploit)
Open source ↗ - Metasploitexploit/multi/http/rails_actionpack_inline_exec✓ verifiedPublished Jul 7, 2016
Ruby on Rails ActionPack Inline ERB Code Execution
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCShakun8/CVE-2016-2098Published Sep 24, 2022
CVE-2016-2098 POC
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCj4k0m/CVE-2016-2098Published Aug 31, 2021
Remote code execution vulnerability in Ruby-on-Rails when using render on user-supplied data.
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCDanielHemmati/CVE-2016-2098-my-first-exploitPublished Jul 27, 2020
This exploit is remote code execution vulnerability in Ruby-on-Rails when using render on user-supplied data
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoC0x00-0x00/CVE-2016-2098Published Feb 9, 2018
Ruby On Rails unrestricted render() exploit
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoChderms/dh-CVE_2016_2098Published Mar 1, 2016
Proof of concept showing how CVE-2016-2098 leads to remote code execution
Open source ↗
Related CVEs(same product + same vendor + same CWE)
Same product
10 shownDebian:7:ruby-actionpack-3.2 · Debian:8:rails
- CVE-2016-0752NVD 7.5EG 9.0 KEVEPSS p100CRITICAL
- CVE-2016-0751EG 7.5EPSS p96HIGH
- CVE-2016-2097EG 5.3EPSS p91MEDIUM
- CVE-2015-7576EG 3.7EPSS p92LOW
- CVE-2016-6316EG 6.1MEDIUM
- CVE-2014-0082EG 5.0EPSS p93MEDIUM
- CVE-2014-0081EG 4.3EPSS p91MEDIUM
- CVE-2020-8164EG 7.5EPSS p92HIGH
- CVE-2015-7581EG 7.5EPSS p94HIGH
- CVE-2020-8165EG 9.8EPSS p99CRITICAL
Same vendor
6 shownredhat:RHSA-2016:0454
Same CWE
10 shownCWE-20
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2016-2098?
When was CVE-2016-2098 made public?
Is CVE-2016-2098 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-2098?
How do I remediate CVE-2016-2098?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2016-2098
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2016-2098?
EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.