GHSA-625h-95r8-8xpm

Rack::QueryParser in version < 2.2.18 enforces its params_limit only for parameters separated by &, while still splitting on both & and ;. As a result, attackers could use ; separators to bypass the parameter count limit and submit more parameters than intended.

Details

The issue arises because Rack::QueryParser#check_query_string counts only & characters when determining the number of parameters, but the default separator regex DEFAULT_SEP = /[&;] */n splits on both & and ;. This mismatch means that queries using ; separators were not included in the parameter count, allowing params_limit to be bypassed.

Other safeguards (bytesize_limit and key_space_limit) still applied, but did not prevent this particular bypass.

Impact

Applications or middleware that directly invoke Rack::QueryParser with its default configuration (no explicit delimiter) could be exposed to increased CPU and memory consumption. This can be abused as a limited denial-of-service vector.

Rack::Request, the primary entry point for typical Rack applications, uses QueryParser in a safe way and does not appear vulnerable by default. As such, the severity is considered low, with the impact limited to edge cases where QueryParser is used directly.

Mitigation

Upgrade to a patched version of Rack where both & and ; are counted consistently toward params_limit.
If upgrading is not immediately possible, configure QueryParser with an explicit delimiter (e.g., &) to avoid the mismatch.
As a general precaution, enforce query string and request size limits at the web server or proxy layer (e.g., Nginx, Apache, or a CDN) to mitigate excessive parsing overhead.

Database specific

{
    "severity": "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed": true,
    "nvd_published_at": "2025-09-25T15:16:13Z",
    "github_reviewed_at": "2025-09-25T16:39:27Z",
    "cwe_ids": [
        "CWE-400",
        "CWE-770"
    ]
}

References

Affected packages

RubyGems / rack

Package

Name: rack
Purl: pkg:gem/rack

Affected ranges

Type: ECOSYSTEM
Events: Introduced

0Unknown introduced version / All previous versions are affected

Fixed

2.2.18

Affected versions

0.*

0.1.0

0.2.0

0.3.0

0.4.0

0.9.0

0.9.1

1.*

1.0.0

1.0.1

1.1.0

1.1.1.pre

1.1.1

1.1.2

1.1.3

1.1.4

1.1.5

1.1.6

1.2.0

1.2.1

1.2.2

1.2.3

1.2.4

1.2.5

1.2.6

1.2.7

1.2.8

1.3.0.beta

1.3.0.beta2

1.3.0

1.3.1

1.3.2

1.3.3

1.3.4

1.3.5

1.3.6

1.3.7

1.3.8

1.3.9

1.3.10

1.4.0

1.4.1

1.4.2

1.4.3

1.4.4

1.4.5

1.4.6

1.4.7

1.5.0.beta.1

1.5.0.beta.2

1.5.0

1.5.1

1.5.2

1.5.3

1.5.4

1.5.5

1.6.0.beta

1.6.0.beta2

1.6.0

1.6.1

1.6.2

1.6.3

1.6.4

1.6.5

1.6.6

1.6.7

1.6.8

1.6.9

1.6.10

1.6.11

1.6.12

1.6.13

2.*

2.0.0.alpha

2.0.0.rc1

2.0.1

2.0.2

2.0.3

2.0.4

2.0.5

2.0.6

2.0.7

2.0.8

2.0.9

2.0.9.1

2.0.9.2

2.0.9.3

2.0.9.4

2.1.0

2.1.1

2.1.2

2.1.3

2.1.4

2.1.4.1

2.1.4.2

2.1.4.3

2.1.4.4

2.2.0

2.2.1

2.2.2

2.2.3

2.2.3.1

2.2.4

2.2.5

2.2.6

2.2.6.1

2.2.6.2

2.2.6.3

2.2.6.4

2.2.7

2.2.8

2.2.8.1

2.2.9

2.2.10

2.2.11

2.2.12

2.2.13

2.2.14

2.2.15

2.2.16

2.2.17