Devise has a confirmable "change email" race condition permits user to confirm email they have no access to
### Impact A race condition in Devise's Confirmable module allows an attacker to confirm an email address they do not own. This affects any Devise application using the `reconfirmable` option (the default when using Confirmable with email changes). By sending two concurrent email change requests, an attacker can desynchronize the `confirmation_token` and `unconfirmed_email` fields. The confirmation token is sent to an email the attacker controls, but the `unconfirmed_email` in the database points to a victim's email address. When the attacker uses the token, the victim's email is confirmed on the attacker's account. ### Patches This is patched in Devise **v5.0.3**. Users should upgrade as soon as possible. ### Workarounds Applications can override this specific method from Devise models to force `unconfirmed_email` to be persisted when unchanged: (assuming your model is `User`) ```ruby class User < ApplicationRecord protected def postpone_email_change_until_confirmation_and_regenerate_confirmation_token unconfirmed_email_will_change! super end end ``` Note: Mongoid does not seem to respect that `will_change!` should force the attribute to be persisted, even if it did not really change, so you might have to implement a workaround similar to Devise by setting `changed_attributes["unconfirmed_email"] = nil` as well.
describes (1)
Related CVEs.
| ID | severity | exploitable | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2026-32700US | medium5.3 | — | ||
Devise is an authentication solution for Rails based on Warden. Prior to version 5.0.3, a race condition in Devise's Confirmable module allows an attacker to confirm an email addre… | ||||
references
External citations — patches, advisories, analysis.
- https://github.com/heartcombo/devisePACKAGE
- https://github.com/heartcombo/devise/issues/5783WEB
- https://github.com/heartcombo/devise/pull/5784WEB
- https://github.com/heartcombo/devise/security/advisories/GHSA-57hq-95w6-v4fcWEB
- https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/devise/CVE-2026-32700.ymlWEB
- https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/devise/GHSA-57hq-95w6-v4fc.ymlWEB
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-32700ADVISORY
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