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CVE-2025-61919

HIGH

Rack is vulnerable to a memory-exhaustion DoS through unbounded URL-encoded body parsing

Published October 10, 2025Updated February 4, 2026Source: osv

Summary

## Summary `Rack::Request#POST` reads the entire request body into memory for `Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded`, calling `rack.input.read(nil)` without enforcing a length or cap. Large request bodies can therefore be buffered completely into process memory before parsing, leading to denial of service (DoS) through memory exhaustion. ## Details When handling non-multipart form submissions, Rack’s request parser performs: ```ruby form_vars = get_header(RACK_INPUT).read ``` Since `read` is called with no argument, the entire request body is loaded into a Ruby `String`. This occurs before query parameter parsing or enforcement of any `params_limit`. As a result, Rack applications without an upstream body-size limit can experience unbounded memory allocation proportional to request size. ## Impact Attackers can send large `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` bodies to consume process memory, causing slowdowns or termination by the operating system (OOM). The effect scales linearly with request size and concurrency. Even with parsing limits configured, the issue occurs *before* those limits are enforced. ## Mitigation * Update to a patched version of Rack that enforces form parameter limits using `query_parser.bytesize_limit`, preventing unbounded reads of `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` bodies. * Enforce strict maximum body size at the proxy or web server layer (e.g., Nginx `client_max_body_size`, Apache `LimitRequestBody`).

Remediation

Upgrade to the fixed version using your package manager.

Bundler
Update rack to 3.2.3 or later
gem install rack -v 3.2.3
Bundler
Update rack to 2.2.20 or later
gem install rack -v 2.2.20
Bundler
Update rack to 3.1.18 or later
gem install rack -v 3.1.18

After upgrading, run your dependency scanner again to confirm the vulnerability is resolved.

Affected Packages (3)

PackageEcosystemAffectedFixed In
rack
rubygems
3.2.0, 3.2.1, 3.2.23.2.3
rack
rubygems
0.1.0, 0.2.0, 0.3.0, 0.4.0 (+116 more)2.2.20
rack
rubygems
3.0.0, 3.0.1, 3.0.10, 3.0.11 (+37 more)3.1.18

Vulnerability Classification

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) identifiers for this vulnerability type.

  • CWE-400
    Uncontrolled Resource ConsumptionMITRE

CVSS Score Breakdown

What the CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) 7.5 score means for each attack dimension.

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-61919?
Rack is vulnerable to a memory-exhaustion DoS through unbounded URL-encoded body parsing This vulnerability has been assigned a severity rating of HIGH (CVSS score: 7.5/10).
How do I check if my project is affected by CVE-2025-61919?
CVE-2025-61919 affects rack. Use GeekWala's free vulnerability scanner to check your dependencies against CVE-2025-61919 and 200,000+ other known vulnerabilities.

Severity & Exploitability

CVSS Score
7.5

High exploitability or significant impact. Prioritize remediation within days.

Also Known As

GHSA-6xw4-3v39-52mm

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