TL;DR Under certain circumstances, dynamically defined symbols may break keyword arguments in Ruby 2.2. This was fixed in Ruby 2.2.3 and 2.3.
Specifically, when …
- there is a method with several keyword arguments and a double-splat argument (e.g.
def m(foo: 'bar, option: 'will be lost', **further_options)
) - there is a dynamically created
Symbol
(e.g.'culprit'.to_sym
) that is created before the method is parsed - the method gets called with both the
option
and aculprit
keyword argument
… then the option
keyword argument will be nil
inside of #m
.
Affected Ruby Versions
- Affected version: 2.2.0, 2.2.1, 2.2.2
- Unaffected versions: 1.x, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2.3+, 2.3+
How to Expose it
The following code exposes the bug. Save it to a file, make sure you have Ruby 2.2 and run it.
test_symbol = '__test'
# The bug only occurs when a symbol used in a keyword argument is dynamically
# added to the Ruby symbols table *before* Ruby first sees the keyword argument.
existing = Symbol.all_symbols.map(&:to_s).grep('__test')
raise "Symbol #{test_symbol} already exists in symbol table!" if existing.any?
'__test'.to_sym # breaks it
# :__test # does not break it
# GC.start # fixes it
# Why #eval?
# Without, Ruby would parse the symbols in this code into its symbol table
# before running the file, which prevents the bug.
eval <<-RUBY
$hash = { __test: '__test', lost: 'lost', q: 'q' }
def _report(name, value)
puts name.to_s << ': ' << (value ? 'ok' : 'broken')
end
# Confirmed broken when:
# - `lost` is the second keyword argument Oo
# - there is a double-splat argument
def vulnerable_method_1(p: 'p', lost: 'lost', **options)
_report(__method__, lost)
end
def vulnerable_method_2(p: 'p', lost: 'lost', q: 'q', **options)
_report(__method__, lost)
end
def immune_method_1(lost: 'lost', p: 'p', **options)
_report(__method__, lost)
end
def immune_method_2(q: 'q', lost: 'lost', __test: '__test')
_report(__method__, lost)
end
def immune_method_3(lost: 'lost', **options)
_report(__method__, lost)
end
RUBY
# Exposure #####################################################################
puts '', 'Broken when calling with a hash'
vulnerable_method_1($hash)
vulnerable_method_2($hash)
immune_method_1($hash)
immune_method_2($hash)
immune_method_3($hash)
puts '', 'Double splat (**) has no influence:'
vulnerable_method_1(**$hash)
vulnerable_method_2(**$hash)
immune_method_1(**$hash)
immune_method_2(**$hash)
immune_method_3(**$hash)
puts '', 'Hash order does not matter:'
inversed_hash = Hash[$hash.to_a.reverse]
vulnerable_method_1(inversed_hash)
vulnerable_method_2(inversed_hash)
immune_method_1(inversed_hash)
immune_method_2(inversed_hash)
immune_method_3(inversed_hash)
References
Posted by Dominik Schöler to makandra dev (2015-04-23 12:24)