Answer in brief
CVE-2026-32762 records a Medium severity (CVSS 4.8) vulnerability in Rack: Forwarded Header semicolon injection enables Host and Scheme spoofing. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. The current feed maps rack (rubygems), rack (rubygems). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
Analysis pending evidence review
HOL Guard separates source facts from reviewed analysis. See the methodology.
CVSS is 4.8. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. Treat this as a source-backed prioritization signal, not a statement about your environment.
Analysis status
Analysis pending evidence review
Factual feed record only; HOL analysis is not approved for indexing. Read the methodology.
The current feed maps rack (rubygems), rack (rubygems). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
| Package | Affected range | Fixed version |
|---|---|---|
| rackrubygems | >=3.0.0.beta1 <3.1.21 | 3.1.21 |
| rackrubygems | >=3.2.0 <3.2.6 | 3.2.6 |
Published upstream
Apr 2, 2026
Evidence: source:osv:source_dates:source-dates:recordSource modified
Sep 10, 2026
Evidence: source:osv:source_dates:source-dates:recordFirst seen by HOL
Aug 7, 2026
## Summary `Rack::Utils.forwarded_values` parses the RFC 7239 `Forwarded` header by splitting on semicolons before handling quoted-string values. Because quoted values may legally contain semicolons, a header such as: ```http Forwarded: for="127.0.0.1;host=evil.com;proto=https" ``` can be interpreted by Rack as multiple `Forwarded` directives rather than as a single quoted `for` value. In deployments where an upstream proxy, WAF, or intermediary validates or preserves quoted `Forwarded` values differently, this discrepancy can allow an attacker to smuggle `host`, `proto`, `for`, or `by` parameters through a single header value. ## Details `Rack::Utils.forwarded_values` processes the header using logic equivalent to: ```ruby forwarded_header.split(';').each_with_object({}) do |field, values| field.split(',').each do |pair| pair = pair.split('=').map(&:strip).join('=') return nil unless pair =~ /\A(by|for|host|proto)="?([^"]+)"?\Z/i (values[$1.downcase.to_sym] ||= []) << $2 end end ``` The method splits on `;` before it parses individual `name=value` pairs. This is inconsistent with RFC 7239, which permits quoted-string values, and quoted strings may contain semicolons as literal content. As a result, a header value such as: ```http Forwarded: for="127.0.0.1;host=evil.com;proto=https" ``` is not treated as a single `for` value. Instead, Rack may interpret it as if the client had supplied separate `for`, `host`, and `proto` directives. This creates an interpretation conflict when another component in front of Rack treats the quoted value as valid literal content, while Rack reparses it as multiple forwarding parameters. ## Impact Applications that rely on `Forwarded` to derive request metadata may observe attacker-controlled values for `host`, `proto`, `for`, or related URL components. In affected deployments, this can lead to host or scheme spoofing in derived values such as `req.host`, `req.scheme`, `req.base_url`, or `req.url`. Applications that use those values for password reset links, redirects, absolute URL generation, logging, IP-based decisions, or backend requests may be vulnerable to downstream security impact. The practical security impact depends on deployment architecture. If clients can already supply arbitrary trusted `Forwarded` parameters directly, this bug may not add meaningful attacker capability. The issue is most relevant where an upstream component and Rack interpret the same `Forwarded` header differently. ## Mitigation * Update to a patched version of Rack that parses `Forwarded` quoted-string values before splitting on parameter delimiters. * Avoid trusting client-supplied `Forwarded` headers unless they are normalized or regenerated by a trusted reverse proxy. * Prefer stripping inbound `Forwarded` headers at the edge and reconstructing them from trusted proxy metadata. * Avoid using `req.host`, `req.scheme`, `req.base_url`, or `req.url` for security-sensitive operations unless the forwarding chain is explicitly trusted and validated.
Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.