CVE-2026-40295
Devise: Open Redirect via Unvalidated `request.referrer` in Timeoutable Session Timeout Handler
- State
- Published
- Severity
- 6.1 Medium
- Published
- May 22, 2026
- Updated
- May 26, 2026
- Reserved
- Apr 10, 2026
Description
Devise is an authentication solution for Rails based on Warden. In versions 5.0.3 and below, when the Timeoutable module is enabled in Devise, the FailureApp#redirect_url method returns request.referrer — the HTTP Referer header, which is attacker-controllable — without validation for any non-GET request that results in a session timeout. An attacker who hosts a page with an auto-submitting cross-origin form can cause a victim with an expired Devise session to be redirected to an arbitrary external URL. This contrasts with the GET timeout path (which uses server-side attempted_path) and Devise's own store_location_for mechanism (which strips external hosts via extract_path_from_location), both of which are protected; only the non-GET timeout redirect path is unprotected. Expired-session users can be silently redirected from the trusted app domain to attacker-controlled URLs, enabling phishing and malware delivery while bypassing browser warnings. Note: Rails' built-in open-redirect protection does not mitigate this issue. Devise::FailureApp is an ActionController::Metal app with its own isolated copy of the relevant redirect configuration, so config.action_controller.action_on_open_redirect = :raise (and the older raise_on_open_redirects setting) do not reach it. This issue has been fixed in version 5.0.4.
Scores
| CVSS | Score | Vector | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | 6.1 Medium | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N | GitHub_M |
Weaknesses
- CWE-601 URL Redirection to Untrusted Site ('Open Redirect')
Affected Products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
deviseheartcombo |
|
References
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