[Breaking] Remove Session serialize/deserialize methods #1426
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The Session.deserialize method used Oj.load without safe mode, which allows instantiation of arbitrary Ruby objects. If an attacker could control session storage (e.g., compromise a Redis instance or database), they could inject malicious serialized data to achieve remote code execution. These methods were vestigial code from when the library handled session storage (deprecated in v12.3.0). After that deprecation, apps became responsible for their own session persistence, rendering serialize/deserialize unnecessary for their original purpose. Investigation confirmed no external usage - the shopify_app gem stores individual session attributes in database columns and reconstructs sessions using Session.new(). The only internal usage was copy_attributes_from, which called serialize just to enumerate attribute names via JSON.parse(other.serialize).keys before copying instance variables. This has been refactored to directly copy each attribute, eliminating the dependency on serialize. Breaking change: Session#serialize and Session.deserialize removed. Migration: Apps should use Session.new() to reconstruct sessions from stored attributes (the pattern already used by shopify_app). Complete removal eliminates the RCE vector entirely while maintaining all functionality.
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byrichardpowell
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Dec 5, 2025
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Description
attribute, eliminating the dependency on serialize.
Fixes #
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