CVE-2019-16060
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2019-16060 is a critical information disclosure vulnerability in Airbrake Ruby notifier versions 4.2.3 where the blacklist_keys configuration fails to properly filter sensitive data like passwords. This allows unauthorized actors to access credentials transmitted through error reports. Only applications using Airbrake Ruby notifier version 4.2.3 are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- Airbrake Ruby notifier
📦 What is this software?
Airbrake Ruby by Airbrake
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers gain access to authentication credentials, database passwords, API keys, and other sensitive configuration data, leading to complete system compromise.
Likely Case
Sensitive credentials and configuration data are exposed in error reports, potentially enabling credential theft and lateral movement.
If Mitigated
With proper network segmentation and access controls, impact is limited to the exposed credentials rather than full system compromise.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires access to error reports or the ability to trigger errors containing sensitive data.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 4.2.4
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/airbrake/airbrake-ruby/issues/468
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update Gemfile to specify 'gem "airbrake-ruby", ">= 4.2.4"' 2. Run 'bundle update airbrake-ruby' 3. Restart your Ruby application
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Downgrade to 4.2.2
allRevert to unaffected version 4.2.2
gem install airbrake-ruby -v 4.2.2
bundle update airbrake-ruby --conservative
Disable Airbrake error reporting
allTemporarily disable Airbrake error reporting until patched
Set Airbrake.configure { |config| config.environment = "development" } in initializer
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement network segmentation to restrict access to Airbrake error reporting endpoints
- Review and rotate all potentially exposed credentials immediately
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Gemfile.lock or run 'bundle show airbrake-ruby' to see if version is exactly 4.2.3Check Version:
bundle show airbrake-ruby | grep -o "airbrake-ruby.*"Verify Fix Applied:
Confirm version is 4.2.4 or later with 'bundle show airbrake-ruby'📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected access to error reports containing sensitive data
- Authentication failures following error report access
Network Indicators:
- Unusual traffic to Airbrake API endpoints from unexpected sources
SIEM Query:
source="airbrake" AND (event_type="error" OR event_type="exception") AND sensitive_keywords