Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessSend crafted HTTP request with path traversal
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DeliveryParse unsanitized docroot parameter
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ExploitBypass directory restrictions
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ExecutionAccess arbitrary file on filesystem
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ImpactReturn file contents to attacker
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V5 - File Handling Path canonicalization, traversal prevention
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Discovery, Collection The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | The vulnerability requires SPECIFIC conditions: yard server must be actively running with the --docroot parameter set to define a custom document root directory. The vulnerability does NOT occur when using the default WEBrick server backend (which sanitizes paths automatically). Exploitation requires network access to the yard server port (typically localhost:8808 unless explicitly exposed). The attacker does not require authentication; the vulnerability is exploitable by any network-accessible client sending crafted HTTP requests. Non-default configurations or running yard server in untrusted environments without additional web server protections are the primary risk factors. Default installations using only 'yard server' without --docroot are not vulnerable. |
| Impact | CVSS v4.0 score of 6.9 with AV:N (network-accessible) and AC:L (low complexity) indicates a reasonably accessible attack vector. However, the impact is limited to confidentiality (VC:L - low confidentiality impact), with no integrity or availability impact, suggesting information disclosure rather than code execution. The vulnerability requires yard server to be actively running with the --docroot parameter configured in an untrusted network environment, which is not a default deployment scenario. EPSS score and KEV status were not provided, so real-world exploitation likelihood cannot be definitively assessed. The patch availability (version 0.9.42 released) and vendor recommendation to upgrade immediately suggest the vendor considers this a legitimate risk in certain deployments. This is a targeted vulnerability affecting developers or organizations using YARD for internal documentation hosting; widespread exploitation is unlikely unless yard server instances are exposed to untrusted networks without additional web server protections. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker discovers a YARD documentation server running on an internal or exposed network using yard server with --docroot configured. The attacker crafts HTTP requests containing path traversal sequences (e.g., GET /../../etc/passwd or GET /%2e%2e/sensitive_file.txt) targeting the server. If the server is not using WEBrick and the path sanitization patch is not applied, the server processes the unsanitized request and returns arbitrary files from the host system, allowing the attacker to read sensitive configuration files, source code, or other documentation. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – May 08, 2026
Path traversal vulnerability in YARD prior to version 0.9.42 allows remote attackers to access arbitrary files on a server running yard server with unsanitized HTTP requests when using the --docroot flag. The vulnerability affects the documentation serving functionality and has been patched in version 0.9.42. No public exploit code or active exploitation has been identified at the time of analysis.
RemediationAI
Upgrade YARD to version 0.9.42 or later immediately. The patched version fixes the path traversal vulnerability in the document_root handling. For users unable to upgrade immediately, two workarounds are available: First, use WEBrick as the server backend by running 'yard server -s webrick', which performs automatic path sanitization on HTTP requests. Second, implement path sanitization at the web server level (e.g., nginx, Apache) by adding rules that reject or neutralize path traversal sequences in HTTP requests. These workarounds mitigate the risk but do not address the underlying code defect; upgrading to 0.9.42 is the definitive fix. The upgrade has minimal side effects, as it is primarily a security fix with only minor UI/UX improvements included in the release.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in rubygems
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
YARD is a Ruby documentation generation and serving tool. The vulnerability exists in the yard server component, which uses HTTP request handling to serve pre-generated documentation files. The root cause is improper input validation of the document_root (--docroot) parameter, classified as CWE-22 (Path Traversal). When yard server processes HTTP requests without proper sanitization, an attacker can craft requests containing path traversal sequences (such as ../ or absolute paths) to bypass intended directory restrictions and access files outside the intended documentation directory. The vulnerability is specific to non-WEBrick server configurations, as WEBrick performs path sanitization by default.
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Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Primary rating from Vendor (GitHub_M).
CVSS VectorVendor: GitHub_M
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
YARD is a Ruby Documentation tool. Prior to version 0.9.42, a path traversal vulnerability was discovered in YARD when using yard server to serve documentation. This bug would allow unsanitized HTTP requests to access arbitrary files on the machine of a yard server host under certain conditions. This issue has been patched in version 0.9.42.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Path traversal exploits occur when applications use user-controlled input to construct file system paths without proper validation.
YARD is a Ruby Documentation tool. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no auth
Path traversal in the YARD Ruby documentation server (prior to 0.9.44) allows unauthenticated remote attackers to read a
lib/yard/core_ext/file.rb in the server in YARD before 0.9.11 does not block relative paths with an initial ../ sequence
yard before 0.9.20 allows path traversal. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no
EUVD-2026-28554
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
GitHub
VulDB
Exploit-DB