CVE-2021-28680
The devise_masquerade gem before 1.3 allows certain attacks when a password's salt is unknown.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (1.25%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
The devise_masquerade gem before 1.3 allows certain attacks when a password's salt is unknown. An application that uses this gem to let administrators masquerade/impersonate users loses one layer of security protection compared to a situation where Devise (without this extension) is used. If the server-side secret_key_base value became publicly known (for instance if it is committed to a public repository by mistake), there are still other protections in place that prevent an attacker from impersonating any user on the site. When masquerading is not used in a plain Devise application, one must know the password salt of the target user if one wants to encrypt and sign a valid session cookie. When devise_masquerade is used, however, an attacker can decide which user the "back" action will go back to without knowing that user's password salt and simply knowing the user ID, by manipulating the session cookie and pretending that a user is already masqueraded by an administrator.
- CVSS 3.1
- 8.1 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 1.25% probability · 69th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Affected
- devise masquerade project/devise masquerade
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 1.3% since 26 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- https://github.com/oivoodoo/devise_masquerade/issues/83Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
- https://labanskoller.se/blog/2021/03/23/the-devise-extension-that-peeled-off-one-layer-of-the-security-onion-cve-2021-28680/Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/oivoodoo/devise_masquerade/issues/83Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
- https://labanskoller.se/blog/2021/03/23/the-devise-extension-that-peeled-off-one-layer-of-the-security-onion-cve-2021-28680/Exploit, Third Party Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.