CVE-2026-41316: ERB has an @_init deserialization guard bypass via def_module / def_method / def_class

Severity: high (CVSS 8.1 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 1.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-04-24 · updated 2026-10-26
Weakness: CWE-693

Description

ERB is a templating system for Ruby. Ruby 2.7.0 (before ERB 2.2.0 was published on rubygems.org) introduced an `@_init` instance variable guard in `ERB#result` and `ERB#run` to prevent code execution when an ERB object is reconstructed via `Marshal.load` (deserialization). However, three other public methods that also evaluate `@src` via `eval()` were not given the same guard: `ERB#def_method`, `ERB#def_module`, and `ERB#def_class`. An attacker who can trigger `Marshal.load` on untrusted data in a Ruby application that has `erb` loaded can use `ERB#def_module` (zero-arg, default parameters) as a code execution sink, bypassing the `@_init` protection entirely. ERB 4.0.3.1, 4.0.4.1, 6.0.1.1, and 6.0.4 patch the issue.

Affected products

ruby erb: before 4.0.3.1; from 5.0.0, < 6.0.1.1; from 6.0.2, < 6.0.4; = 4.0.4

References

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