CVE-2022-44566
📋 TL;DR
This CVE describes a denial of service vulnerability in ActiveRecord's PostgreSQL adapter where providing integer values outside the 64-bit signed range causes PostgreSQL to perform slow sequential scans instead of efficient index scans. This affects Ruby on Rails applications using PostgreSQL with vulnerable ActiveRecord versions, potentially allowing attackers to degrade database performance.
💻 Affected Systems
- Ruby on Rails ActiveRecord PostgreSQL adapter
📦 What is this software?
Activerecord by Activerecord Project
Activerecord by Activerecord Project
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete database performance degradation leading to application unavailability, potentially affecting all users and causing extended downtime.
Likely Case
Significant database slowdown affecting application responsiveness, potentially causing partial service disruption for users.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact with proper query monitoring and rate limiting in place, though some performance degradation may still occur.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires finding endpoints that accept integer parameters that get passed to PostgreSQL queries. The technique is well-documented in public references.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: ActiveRecord PostgreSQL adapter versions 7.0.4.1 and 6.1.7.1
Vendor Advisory: https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/cve-2022-44566-possible-denial-of-service-vulnerability-in-activerecords-postgresql-adapter/82119
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update your Gemfile to specify 'gem "activerecord", ">= 7.0.4.1"' or 'gem "activerecord", ">= 6.1.7.1"' depending on your Rails version. 2. Run 'bundle update activerecord'. 3. Restart your application server.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input validation for integer parameters
allAdd validation to ensure integer parameters are within 64-bit signed range before passing to database queries
Query monitoring and rate limiting
allImplement monitoring for slow queries and rate limiting on endpoints that accept integer parameters
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict input validation on all endpoints accepting integer parameters to reject values outside 64-bit signed range
- Deploy database query monitoring with alerts for sequential scans on indexed columns and implement WAF rules to block suspicious parameter patterns
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check your Gemfile.lock for activerecord version and ensure it's not <7.0.4.1 (for Rails 7) or <6.1.7.1 (for Rails 6.1)Check Version:
bundle list | grep activerecordVerify Fix Applied:
After updating, verify activerecord version in Gemfile.lock is >=7.0.4.1 or >=6.1.7.1 and test that queries with out-of-range integers no longer cause sequential scans📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- PostgreSQL logs showing sequential scans on indexed columns
- Application logs showing slow query responses
- Unusually large integer values in request parameters
Network Indicators:
- Increased response times for database queries
- Spikes in database CPU usage
SIEM Query:
source="postgresql" AND "sequential scan" AND duration>1000ms🔗 References
- https://code.jeremyevans.net/2022-11-01-forcing-sequential-scans-on-postgresql.html
- https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/cve-2022-44566-possible-denial-of-service-vulnerability-in-activerecords-postgresql-adapter/82119
- https://code.jeremyevans.net/2022-11-01-forcing-sequential-scans-on-postgresql.html
- https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/cve-2022-44566-possible-denial-of-service-vulnerability-in-activerecords-postgresql-adapter/82119
