The devise_masquerade gem before 1.3 allows certain attacks when a password's salt is unknown. An application that uses this gem to let administrators masquerade/impersonate users loses one layer of security protection compared to a situation where Devise (without this extension) is used. If the server-side secret_key_base value became publicly known (for instance if it is committed to a public repository by mistake), there are still other protections in place that prevent an attacker from impersonating any user on the site. When masquerading is not used in a plain Devise application, one must know the password salt of the target user if one wants to encrypt and sign a valid session cookie. When devise_masquerade is used, however, an attacker can decide which user the "back" action will go back to without knowing that user's password salt and simply knowing the user ID, by manipulating the session cookie and pretending that a user is already masqueraded by an administrator.
CVE-2021-28680
This high-severity CVE scores 8.1 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 0.3%, top 51% of all CVEs by exploit prediction. GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).
- High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v3
- 8.1
- EG Score
- 8.1(medium)
- EPSS
- 65.0%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
December 7, 2021
Last Modified
November 21, 2024
References (4)
- cve@mitrehttps://github.com/oivoodoo/devise_masquerade/issues/83
- cve@mitrehttps://labanskoller.se/blog/2021/03/23/the-devise-extension-that-peeled-off-one-layer-of-the-security-onion-cve-2021-28680/
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://github.com/oivoodoo/devise_masquerade/issues/83
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://labanskoller.se/blog/2021/03/23/the-devise-extension-that-peeled-off-one-layer-of-the-security-onion-cve-2021-28680/
Affected Packages
(1 across 1 ecosystem)
RubyGems(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| devise_masquerade | 0.0.1 ... 1.3.0 (36 versions) | 1.3.1 | — |
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 10× in last 7d / 48× 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.
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