CVE-2019-8320
rubygems: Delete directory using symlink when decompressing tar
Severity
ModerateRed Hat Product Security
CVSS 3.0
Review impact separately from score.
Published · March 5, 2019
Updated · November 2, 2026
Description
A Directory Traversal issue was discovered in RubyGems 2.7.6 and later through 3.0.2. Before making new directories or touching files (which now include path-checking code for symlinks), it would delete the target destination. If that destination was hidden behind a symlink, a malicious gem could delete arbitrary files on the user's machine, presuming the attacker could guess at paths. Given how frequently gem is run as sudo, and how predictable paths are on modern systems (/tmp, /usr, etc.), this could likely lead to data loss or an unusable system.
CVSS score applicability
The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.
Mitigation
No mitigation is specified in collected source.
CVSS / CWE
CVSS 3.0 · 7.4CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory