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 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. This is patched in Devise v5.0.3. Users should upgrade as soon as possible. As a workaround, applications can override a specific method from Devise models to force `unconfirmed_email` to be persisted when unchanged. Note that Mongoid does not seem to respect that `will_change!` should force the attribute to be persisted, even if it did not really change, so the user might have to implement a workaround similar to Devise by setting `changed_attributes["unconfirmed_email"] = nil` as well.
History

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 21:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description 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 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. This is patched in Devise v5.0.3. Users should upgrade as soon as possible. As a workaround, applications can override a specific method from Devise models to force `unconfirmed_email` to be persisted when unchanged. Note that Mongoid does not seem to respect that `will_change!` should force the attribute to be persisted, even if it did not really change, so the user might have to implement a workaround similar to Devise by setting `changed_attributes["unconfirmed_email"] = nil` as well.
Title Devise has a confirmable "change email" race condition that permits user to confirm email they have no access to
Weaknesses CWE-362
References
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 6, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N'}


cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: GitHub_M

Published:

Updated: 2026-03-18T20:55:55.034Z

Reserved: 2026-03-13T14:33:42.823Z

Link: CVE-2026-32700

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-03-18T21:16:26.943

Modified: 2026-03-18T21:16:26.943

Link: CVE-2026-32700

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.