Ruby on Rails Risk Assessment & Management 3

Question 1

Which Rails feature, if misconfigured, can allow attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted serialized objects in cookies or cache stores?

Accepted Answer

Ruby object deserialization in Marshal-based cookie stores

Answer

Marshal.load on untrusted data can trigger arbitrary code execution; Rails historically used Marshal for cookie stores, making secret_key_base rotation critical.

Question 2

What risk does an open redirect vulnerability in a Rails app introduce?

Accepted Answer

Attackers can craft URLs on your domain that redirect users to malicious sites, enabling phishing

Answer

Open redirects let attackers use your trusted domain as a stepping stone, tricking users into following what appears to be a legitimate link.

Question 3

Which database-level risk does Rails' `dependent: :destroy` option on associations help mitigate?

Accepted Answer

Orphaned child records that may expose data after a parent is deleted

Answer

Without dependent: :destroy (or :nullify), deleting a parent record leaves orphaned children that can be accessed directly, potentially leaking data.

Question 4

In a Rails API, what risk does omitting rate limiting on authentication endpoints introduce?

Accepted Answer

Brute-force credential stuffing attacks against user accounts

Answer

Without rate limiting, attackers can attempt thousands of username/password combinations per second against login or token endpoints.

Question 5

Which risk is introduced when a Rails app uses user-supplied input directly in a `system()` or backtick shell command?

Accepted Answer

OS command injection, allowing arbitrary system commands to be executed

Answer

Passing unsanitized user input to shell execution methods allows attackers to append their own shell commands using metacharacters like ; or |.

Ruby on Rails Practice Test

Ruby on Rails Practice Test

Ruby on Rails Risk Assessment & Management 3