SafeGem: GitHub’s Safe Gem Eval Web Service


Help make GitHub’s gem build process more secure and robust!

SafeGem is a Sinatra app that safely converts Ruby gemspecs into YAML gemspecs.

It works as follows:

1) Receives a request with the repo location and the ruby gemspec 2) Returns immediately and schedules the following via EM.defer:

1) Makes a shallow clone of the repo and chdir’s to that repo 2) Evals the spec in a separate thread with a higher $SAFE level 3) Converts spec to YAML 4) Posts the YAML to the specified callback

Goals


  • Lower the $SAFE level to allow methods like Dir.glob, but without compromising security.