Attack Chain

1. An application, using OAuth2::AccessToken via OAuth2::Client, initiates a request to a trusted Identity Provider (IdP) or resource server, including an Authorization: Bearer <access-token> header.
2. An attacker, by exploiting an open redirect vulnerability on the IdP, configuring a malicious tenant in a multi-tenant setup, or through a network compromise, causes the IdP to issue an HTTP 30x redirect response.
3. The crafted redirect response's Location header contains a protocol-relative URI pointing to an attacker-controlled host (e.g., //attacker.example/leak).
4. The OAuth2::Client#request method attempts to resolve this redirect by calling response.response.env.url.merge(location). Per RFC 3986 §5.2, URI#merge interprets the protocol-relative URI as a network-path reference, which overrides the authority (scheme and host) of the base URL.
5. The library then recursively re-invokes request(verb, full_location, req_opts) using the newly resolved attacker-controlled URL. Crucially, the req_opts dictionary, containing the original request headers, is passed verbatim.
6. The Authorization: Bearer <access-token> header, initially set by OAuth2::AccessToken#configure_authentication!, is preserved and transmitted in the request to the attacker's host.
7. The attacker-controlled server receives the application's bearer token, achieving immediate cross-origin credential disclosure without further user interaction.
8. Alternatively, if the Location URI specifies an internal network address (e.g., //169.254.169.254/), the application server acts as a Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) proxy, allowing the attacker to interact with internal resources.

Impact

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability results in two primary impacts:

1. Cross-origin credential disclosure: The immediate consequence is the theft of Authorization: Bearer tokens. Any application utilizing the vulnerable oauth2 gem to communicate with an IdP susceptible to such redirection risks having its access tokens exfiltrated to an attacker-controlled server. This can lead to unauthorized access to user data or resources that the stolen token grants access to.
2. Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF): The ability to redirect the application's requests to an arbitrary host also enables SSRF. Attackers can leverage this to force the application server to make requests to internal network services, cloud metadata endpoints (e.g., 169.254.169.254), or other restricted resources that are typically inaccessible from the internet. This could facilitate reconnaissance, lateral movement, or further exploitation within an organization's internal infrastructure. Given the widespread use of OAuth2 in modern applications, the potential number of affected services and organizations is substantial across all sectors.

Recommendation

• Upgrade the oauth2 gem to version 2.0.22 or later immediately to address CVE-2026-54603.
• Apply the suggested patch logic to OAuth2::Client#request as an interim measure if immediate gem upgrade is not possible. This involves forcing protocol-relative Location values to be interpreted as relative paths by prepending ./ before URI#merge.
• Developers should review their Identity Provider (IdP) and resource server configurations to ensure they do not expose open redirect vulnerabilities that could be abused to supply malicious Location headers.
• Implement defense-in-depth measures to strip credential-bearing headers (like Authorization) from requests when a redirect crosses origin boundaries, similar to how robust HTTP clients handle such scenarios.