Answer in brief
CVE-2026-54696 records a Low severity (CVSS 3.7) vulnerability in Ruby json: JSON generator heap buffer overflow when streaming to an IO. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. The current feed maps json (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 3.7. 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 json (rubygems). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
| Package | Affected range | Fixed version |
|---|---|---|
| jsonrubygems | >=2.9.0 <2.19.9 | 2.19.9 |
Published upstream
Jun 30, 2026
Evidence: source:osv:source_dates:source-dates:recordSource modified
Sep 10, 2026
Evidence: source:osv:source_dates:source-dates:recordFirst seen by HOL
Jul 1, 2026
### Summary `JSON.dump(obj, io)` and `JSON::State#generate(obj, io)` can write past the internal JSON generator buffer when a streamed object contains an attacker-controlled string near 16 KB. The issue is a heap out-of-bounds write in the IO-streaming path and is demonstrated as a reliable process crash / denial of service. This was triaged on HackerOne as report #3785370. The issue was confirmed there and I was asked to open it here. ### Details Root cause is in `ext/json/fbuffer/fbuffer.h`, `fbuffer_do_inc_capa()`. On the IO path, the buffer is grown to `FBUFFER_IO_BUFFER_SIZE` (16383), but the early return checks total capacity instead of remaining capacity: ```c if (RB_UNLIKELY(fb->io)) { if (fb->capa < FBUFFER_IO_BUFFER_SIZE) { fbuffer_realloc(fb, FBUFFER_IO_BUFFER_SIZE); } else { fbuffer_flush(fb); } if (RB_LIKELY(requested < fb->capa)) { return; } } ``` If `fb->len` already contains JSON syntax bytes, and a string flush has `16383 - fb->len <= requested < 16383`, this check returns even though there is not enough space left. `fbuffer_append_reserved()` then writes past the buffer: ```c MEMCPY(fb->ptr + fb->len, newstr, char, len); ``` The minimal fix is to compare against the remaining capacity: ```diff - if (RB_LIKELY(requested < fb->capa)) { + if (RB_LIKELY(requested <= fb->capa - fb->len)) { return; } ``` ### PoC ```ruby require "json" require "stringio" io = StringIO.new big = "a" * 16385 big[16382] = '"' # escapable byte near the buffer boundary JSON.dump([big], io) ``` Verified results: ```text Ruby 4.0.5 / bundled json 2.18.0: malloc(): invalid size (unsorted) .../json/common.rb:956: [BUG] Aborted ruby/ruby master c78418b7a0 / json 2.19.8 / ASan: heap-buffer-overflow WRITE of size 16382 fbuffer_append_reserved ext/json/fbuffer/fbuffer.h:145 search_flush ext/json/generator/generator.c:139 convert_UTF8_to_JSON ext/json/generator/generator.c:231 raw_generate_json_string ext/json/generator/generator.c:922 cState_m_generate ext/json/generator/generator.c:1891 ``` Control: the same data through `JSON.dump([big])` without an IO argument returns normally. The bug is specific to the IO-streaming path. ### Impact A remote attacker can trigger a heap out-of-bounds write if they control a string field that an application serializes through `JSON.dump(obj, io)` or `JSON::State#generate(obj, io)`. The demonstrated impact is reliable denial of service. I am not claiming code execution or information disclosure.
Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.