CVE-2020-5257
Sort order SQL injection in Administrate
CVE-2020-5257 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.7) in Thoughtbot Administrate, published March 13, 2020. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.90%, the 59th percentile. Fixed in administrate 0.13.0.
In Administrate (rubygem) before version 0.13.0, when sorting by attributes on a dashboard, the direction parameter was not validated before being interpolated into the SQL query. This could present a SQL injection if the attacker were able to modify the direction parameter and bypass ActiveRecord SQL protections. Whilst this does have a high-impact, to exploit this you need access to the Administrate dashboards, which we would expect to be behind authentication. This is patched in wersion 0.13.0.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
7.7
Sort order SQL injection in Administrate
In Administrate (rubygem) before version 0.13.0, when sorting by attributes on a dashboard, the direction parameter was not validated before being interpolated into the SQL query. This could present a SQL injection if the attacker were able to modify the direction parameter and bypass ActiveRecord SQL protections. Whilst this does have a high-impact, to exploit this you need access to the Administrate dashboards, which we would expect to be behind authentication. This is patched in wersion 0.13.0.
- Record
CVE-2020-5257- CVSS 3.1
- 7.7 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-943
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2020-0324
7.7
In Administrate (rubygem) before version 0.13.0, when sorting by attributes on a dashboard, the direction parameter was not validated before being interpolated into the SQL query. This could present a SQL injection if the attacker were able to modify the direction parameter and bypass ActiveRecord SQL protections. Whilst this does have a high-impact, to exploit this you need access to the Administrate dashboards, which we would expect to be behind authentication. This is patched in wersion 0.13.0.
- Record
EUVD-2020-0324- CVSS 3.1
- 7.7 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-2p5p-m353-833w
7.7
Sort order SQL injection in Administrate
In Administrate (rubygem) before version 0.13.0, when sorting by attributes on a dashboard,
the direction parameter was not validated before being interpolated into the SQL query.
This could present a SQL injection if the attacker were able to modify the direction parameter and bypass ActiveRecord SQL protections.
Whilst this does have a high-impact, to exploit this you need access to the Administrate dashboards, which we would expect to be behind authentication.
This is patched in wersion 0.13.0.
- Record
GHSA-2p5p-m353-833w- CVSS 3.1
- 7.7 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-943
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
7.7
In Administrate (rubygem) before version 0.13.0, when sorting by attributes on a dashboard, the direction parameter was not validated before being interpolated into the SQL query. This could present a SQL injection if the attacker were able to modify the direction parameter and bypass ActiveRecord SQL protections. Whilst this does have a high-impact, to exploit this you need access to the Administrate dashboards, which we would expect to be behind authentication. This is patched in wersion 0.13.0.
- Record
CVE-2020-5257- CVSS 3.1
- 7.7 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - CVSS 3.1
- 8.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N - CVSS 2.0
- 5.5 Medium
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-943, CWE-89
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
8.1
In Administrate (rubygem) before version 0.13.0, when sorting by attributes on a dashboard, the direction parameter was not validated before being interpolated into the SQL query. This could present a SQL injection if the attacker were able to modify the direction parameter and bypass ActiveRecord SQL protections. Whilst this does have a high-impact, to exploit this you need access to the Administrate dashboards, which we would expect to be behind authentication. This is patched in wersion 0.13.0.
- Record
CVE-2020-5257- CVSS 3.1
- 8.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-2p5p-m353-833w
7.7
Sort order SQL injection in Administrate
In Administrate (rubygem) before version 0.13.0, when sorting by attributes on a dashboard,
the direction parameter was not validated before being interpolated into the SQL query.
This could present a SQL injection if the attacker were able to modify the direction parameter and bypass ActiveRecord SQL protections.
Whilst this does have a high-impact, to exploit this you need access to the Administrate dashboards, which we would expect to be behind authentication.
This is patched in wersion 0.13.0.
- Record
GHSA-2p5p-m353-833w- CVSS 3.1
- 7.7 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-943
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
administrateRubyGems |
before 0.13.0 | 0.13.0 |
administrateRubyGems |
before 0.13.0, plus listed versions 0.0.100.0.110.0.120.0.20.0.3 Show 26 moreShow less0.0.40.0.60.0.70.0.80.0.90.1.00.1.10.1.20.1.30.1.40.1.50.10.00.11.00.12.00.2.00.2.0.rc10.2.10.2.20.3.00.4.00.5.00.6.00.7.00.8.00.8.10.9.0 |
0.13.0 |
History
| When | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-11-03 | aliases | EUVD |
| 2026-11-02 | created | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
References
github.com/thoughtbot/administrate/security/advisories/GHSA-2p5p-m353-833w
github.com/thoughtbot/administrate/commit/3ab838b83c5f565fba50e0c6f66fe4517f98eed3
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-5257
github.com/advisories/GHSA-2p5p-m353-833w
github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/administrate/CVE-2020-5257.yml