Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:NSummary
CVE-2019-5418 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Rubyonrails Rails. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 0.1% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2019-5418 is a file content disclosure vulnerability affecting Action View in Ruby on Rails versions prior to 5.2.2.1, 5.1.6.2, 5.0.7.2, 4.2.11.1, and all v3 releases. It is triggered when the component processes specially crafted Accept headers, allowing exposure of arbitrary file contents from the target system's filesystem. The issue is tracked under CWE-22 with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 reflecting network attack vector, low complexity, and high confidentiality impact without requiring authentication or user interaction.
An unauthenticated remote attacker can send a crafted HTTP request containing a malicious Accept header to any Rails application using the vulnerable Action View component. Successful exploitation results in the server returning the contents of arbitrary files readable by the application process, enabling disclosure of sensitive configuration data, source code, or other filesystem artifacts.
Advisories from Red Hat (RHSA-2019:0796, RHSA-2019:1147) and openSUSE provide patched packages that address the flaw, while additional references such as oss-security and Packet Storm listings document the same update path for mitigation. No information on observed in-the-wild exploitation is supplied in the source references.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2019-0375
Vulnerability Data
There is a File Content Disclosure vulnerability in Action View <5.2.2.1, <5.1.6.2, <5.0.7.2, <4.2.11.1 and v3 where specially crafted accept headers can cause contents of arbitrary files on the target system's filesystem to be exposed.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 07 July 2025
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V5.3.2
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Validates pathnames and filenames to prevent traversal outside intended directories.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.
PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.
Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.
Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.
Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.
Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.