CVE-2016-2098

HIGHNVD 7.37.3—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

This high-severity CVE scores 7.3 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 84.1%, top 1% 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).

Triggered by: NVD CVSS baseline
Sources: epss, nvd
Weaponized
7.3
EchelonGraph verdictPatch this weekExploitation is likely or a public exploit exists.
  • High exploitation likelihood — EPSS 81%
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 81%CVSS: 7.3Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

Action Pack in Ruby on Rails before 3.2.22.2, 4.x before 4.1.14.2, and 4.2.x before 4.2.5.2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary Ruby code by leveraging an application's unrestricted use of the render method.

CVSS v3
7.3
EG Score
7.3(medium)
EPSS
99.6%
KEV
Not listed

Published

April 7, 2016

Last Modified

May 6, 2026

References (24)

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2016-2098(3)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Patch Availability(3)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
redhatror40-rubygem-activesupport-1:4.0.2-4.el72016-03-15redhat
redhatruby193-rubygem-activesupport-1:3.2.8-6.el72016-03-15redhat
redhatrh-ror41-rubygem-actionview-0:4.1.5-5.el72016-03-15redhat

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Affected Packages

(1 across 1 ecosystem)
RubyGems(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
actionpack4.2.0 ... 4.2.5.rc2 (15 versions)4.2.5.2—

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 4× in last 7d / 17× 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.

  1. 2026-07-22 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-20 17:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-07-15 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-07-15 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-07-13 06:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-07-12 11:07 UTCOSV refresh
  9. 2026-07-09 19:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-07-04 06:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-07-01 15:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-27 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-06-27 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-23 16:30 UTCOSV refresh
  18. 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-15 17:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-13 22:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-13 22:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-12 23:09 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 29 more
  1. 2026-06-12 23:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-06-11 13:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-06-10 22:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-06-10 13:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-06-08 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-06 21:59 UTCOSV refresh
  9. 2026-06-05 22:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-02 20:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-05-31 22:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-05-31 22:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-05-31 00:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-05-29 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-05-22 20:59 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-05-22 20:59 UTCVendor advisory
  23. 2026-05-21 22:40 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-05-21 22:36 UTCOSV refresh
  25. 2026-05-20 22:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-05-20 22:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-05-20 22:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-05-18 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-05-18 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore

Publicly available exploits

(7 references)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Metasploit module) (5 GitHub PoCs) (1 Exploit-DB entry). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • GitHub PoCShakun8/CVE-2016-2098
    First seen Sep 24, 2022

    CVE-2016-2098 POC

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCj4k0m/CVE-2016-2098
    First seen Aug 31, 2021

    Remote code execution vulnerability in Ruby-on-Rails when using render on user-supplied data.

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCDanielHemmati/CVE-2016-2098-my-first-exploit
    First seen Jul 27, 2020

    This exploit is remote code execution vulnerability in Ruby-on-Rails when using render on user-supplied data

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoC0x00-0x00/CVE-2016-2098
    First seen Feb 9, 2018

    Ruby On Rails unrestricted render() exploit

    Open source ↗
  • Exploit-DBEDB-40086✓ verified
    First seen Jul 11, 2016

    Ruby on Rails ActionPack Inline ERB - Code Execution (Metasploit)

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoChderms/dh-CVE_2016_2098
    First seen Mar 1, 2016

    Proof of concept showing how CVE-2016-2098 leads to remote code execution

    Open source ↗
  • Metasploitexploit/multi/http/rails_actionpack_inline_exec✓ verified
    First seen Mar 1, 2016

    Ruby on Rails ActionPack Inline ERB Code Execution

    Open source ↗

Related CVEs(same vendor)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2016-2098?
CVE-2016-2098 is a high vulnerability published on April 7, 2016. Action Pack in Ruby on Rails before 3.2.22.2, 4.x before 4.1.14.2, and 4.2.x before 4.2.5.2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary Ruby code by leveraging an application's unrestricted use of the render method.
When was CVE-2016-2098 disclosed?
CVE-2016-2098 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on April 7, 2016, with the most recent update on May 6, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2016-2098 actively exploited?
CVE-2016-2098 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 99.6% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-2098?
CVE-2016-2098 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.3 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2016-2098?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2016-2098, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2016-2098

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