Input Validation / Ruby Code Injection

Description

Ruby code injection is a type of input validation vulnerability, which is listed in the Common Weakness Enumeration directory as CWE-94. This type of vulnerability occurs when data entered by a user is not validated or sanitized and is executed as a Ruby code within the application. This type of vulnerability is commonly found in web applications and APIs. According to the OWASP Testing Guide, Ruby code injection is an attack technique used by malicious users to inject malicious code into an application to gain access to the system or to manipulate its behavior.

Risk

Ruby code injection poses a serious threat to the security of an application. It can allow malicious users to gain access to sensitive data, gain control of the system, and manipulate its behavior. By exploiting this vulnerability, malicious users can gain access to confidential data, modify data, or delete data.

Solution

The best way to prevent Ruby code injection is to validate and sanitize user input. This can be done by using a whitelist of characters and input types, and by using input validation to ensure that user input meets the expected format. Additionally, the use of secure coding practices, such as avoiding the use of eval() functions, can help to reduce the risk of this type of vulnerability.

Example

The following example shows a code injection vulnerability in a Rails application. The code is vulnerable to code injection because it uses an eval() function to execute user-provided input without validating it first.

 def execute_code
   eval(params[:code])
 end