oj: Oj: Use-After-Free in Oj::Doc Iterators via Reentrant Close
What fixes it
- 3.17.3oj, rubygemsGitHub
- 3.17.3oj, RubyGemsOSV
bundle update oj --conservative # needs 3.17.3 or later
A fixed version on one release line is not the upgrade target for every line. Check your exact version and any vendor backports.
Description
Summary
Oj::Doc iterators (each_value, each_child, each_leaf) are vulnerable to a heap use-after-free. When a Ruby block yielded during iteration calls doc.close or d.close, the document's heap memory is freed while the C iterator is still running. When control returns from the block, the iterator reads from the freed region, producing a use-after-free accessible from pure Ruby.
Version
- Software: oj gem
- Affected: all versions with
ext/oj/fast.c - Latest tested: 3.17.1 (confirmed present)
Details
The iterators in ext/oj/fast.c follow the pattern:
// fast.c:1505 (doc_each_child)
static VALUE doc_each_child(VALUE self, ...) {
...
while (cur != NULL) {
rb_yield(...); // ← Ruby block executes here
cur = cur->next; // ← cur is now freed if block called close()
}
}rb_yield can invoke arbitrary Ruby code, including calling close() on the Doc or any child node, which calls ruby_sized_xfree on the backing buffer. On return, the C code reads cur->next from the freed region. All three iterators are affected.
ASAN report (each_child variant):
==253632==ERROR: AddressSanitizer: heap-use-after-free on address 0x5210000bd080
READ of size 8 at 0x5210000bd080 thread T0
#0 doc_each_child /ext/oj/fast.c:1505
0x5210000bd080 is located 896 bytes inside of 4064-byte region [0x5210000bcd00, 0x5210000bdce0)
freed by thread T0 here:
#0 free
#1 ruby_sized_xfree (libruby-3.3.so.3.3)All three iterators trigger the same freed region (fd shadow bytes):
0x5210000bd080:[fd]fd fd fd fd fd fd fd fd fd fd fd fd fd fd fd
Reproduce
require 'oj'
# each_child
Oj::Doc.open('[1,2]') { |doc| doc.each_child { |d| d.close } }
# each_value
Oj::Doc.open('[1,2]') { |doc| doc.each_value { |v| doc.close } }
# each_leaf
Oj::Doc.open('[1,[2]]') { |doc| doc.each_leaf { |d| d.close } }Text from GitHub Advisory Database
Affected versions 53
- oj, rubygems<= 3.17.2GitHub
- ojaffected: < 3.17.2CVE List
- oj, RubyGemsfrom first release, fixed in 3.17.3OSV
- oj, RubyGems0.5OSV
- oj, RubyGems0.5.1OSV
- oj, RubyGems0.5.2OSV
- oj, RubyGems0.6.0OSV
- oj, RubyGems0.7.0OSV
- oj, RubyGems0.8.0OSV
- oj, RubyGems0.9.0OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.0.0OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.0.1OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.0.2OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.0.3OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.0.4OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.0.5OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.0.6OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.1.0OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.1.1OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.2.0OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.2.1OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.2.10OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.2.11OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.2.12OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.2.13OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.2.2OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.2.3OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.2.4OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.2.5OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.2.6OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.2.7OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.2.8OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.2.9OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.3.0OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.3.2OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.3.4OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.3.5OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.3.6OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.3.7OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.4.0OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.4.1OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.4.2OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.4.3OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.4.4OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.4.5OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.4.6OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.4.6a2OSV
- oj, RubyGems1.4.7OSV
- oj, RubyGems2.0.0OSV
- oj, RubyGems2.0.1OSV
- oj, RubyGems2.0.10OSV
- oj, RubyGems2.0.11OSV
- oj, RubyGems2.0.12OSV
References 5
- github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/oj/CVE-2026-54897.ymlAdvisoryvia GitHub
- github.com/advisories/GHSA-9ppp-w3g4-fh4qAdvisoryvia GitHub
- github.com/ohler55/oj/security/advisories/GHSA-9ppp-w3g4-fh4qExploitvia CVE List
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-54897Referencevia GitHub
- cve.org/CVERecord/SearchResults?query=CVE-2026-54897Referencevia GitHub