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CVE-2020-5257

Sort order SQL injection in Administrate

7.7 HighFix available

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

0.90%Up 0.3 points since Apr 14, 2021
90%50%10%1%

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 HighCVSS: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 HighCVSS: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 HighCVSS: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 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
CVSS 3.1
8.1 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
CVSS 2.0
5.5 MediumAV: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 HighCVSS: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 HighCVSS: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

Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
administrate
RubyGems
before 0.13.0
0.13.0
administrate
RubyGems
before 0.13.0, plus listed versions
0.0.100.0.110.0.120.0.20.0.3
Show 26 moreShow less
0.0.40.0.60.0.70.0.80.0.90.1.00.1.10.1.20.1.30.1.40.1.50.10.00.11.00.12.00.2.00.2.0.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

History
WhenChangedSources
2026-11-03aliasesEUVD
2026-11-02createdCVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

References

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