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PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2016-10193 Espeak Ruby Project CVE debrief

CVE-2016-10193 affects the espeak-ruby gem before 1.0.3. According to the CVE description, untrusted strings passed to speak, save, bytes, or bytes_wav in lib/espeak/speech.rb can include shell metacharacters that lead to arbitrary command execution. NVD classifies affected versions as up to 1.0.2 and assigns the issue a CVSS v3.0 score of 9.8 (Critical).

Vendor
Espeak Ruby Project
Product
CVE-2016-10193
CVSS
CRITICAL 9.8
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2017-03-03
Original CVE updated
2026-05-13
Advisory published
2017-03-03
Advisory updated
2026-05-13

Who should care

Teams running Ruby applications or services that use espeak-ruby, especially if user-controlled text can reach speech-generation methods. Package maintainers and platform teams should prioritize this if the gem is present in production or exposed in automation.

Technical summary

The vulnerability is a command-injection condition triggered when attacker-controlled input is incorporated into shell-facing speech-generation behavior. The affected API surface named in the CVE is speak, save, bytes, and bytes_wav in lib/espeak/speech.rb. NVD lists the vulnerable CPE as espeak-ruby_project:espeak-ruby through version 1.0.2 and tags the weakness as CWE-284.

Defensive priority

High. The CVSS 9.8 score and network-reachable, no-auth prerequisites indicate this should be treated as an urgent patching item wherever espeak-ruby is deployed.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Upgrade espeak-ruby to version 1.0.3 or later, since the CVE states versions before 1.0.3 are affected.
  • Inventory Ruby applications and dependencies to find any direct or transitive use of espeak-ruby.
  • Review any code paths that pass user-controlled text into speak, save, bytes, or bytes_wav.
  • If immediate upgrading is not possible, remove or disable exposed features that accept untrusted input until remediation is complete.
  • Validate that deployment pipelines and lockfiles no longer pin espeak-ruby to 1.0.2 or earlier.
  • Monitor Ruby application logs and process execution telemetry for unexpected shell command behavior around speech-generation workflows.

Evidence notes

This debrief is based only on the supplied CVE record and NVD metadata. The CVE description states that shell metacharacters in strings supplied to speak, save, bytes, or bytes_wav can lead to arbitrary command execution. NVD identifies affected versions as espeak-ruby through 1.0.2 and publishes CVSS v3.0 vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. The source corpus also includes mitigation/advisory references from the oss-security mailing list and a GitHub issue. No active exploitation or KEV listing is present in the provided data. The CVE was published on 2017-03-03 and last modified on 2026-05-13; those dates are used here only as disclosure/timeline context.

Official resources

Publicly disclosed on 2017-03-03. The supplied source metadata was last modified on 2026-05-13, which is timeline context only and not the issue date.