Issue #19630 has been updated by mdalessio (Mike Dalessio). I enthusiastically support this suggestion. This is something that even experienced Ruby developers frequently forget about. I think it would be wise to evolve this API towards being "secure by default", even if that means forcing users to be explicit about the class or module. ---------------------------------------- Feature #19630: [RFC] Deprecate `Kernel.open("|command-here")` due to frequent security issues https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/19630#change-102987 * Author: postmodern (Hal Brodigan) * Status: Open * Priority: Normal ---------------------------------------- `Kernel.open()` is the source of numerous [1] security [2] issues [3], due to the fact that it can be used to execute commands if given a String argument of the form `"|command-here"`. However, in most uses of `Kernel.open()` the developer appears to either want to open a local file, or if 'open-uri' was explicitly required open a remote URI. We should deprecate calling `Kernel.open()` with a `"|command-here"` style arguments, with a warning message instructing the developer to use `IO.popen()` instead. Eventually, support for `Kernel.open("|command-here")` could be removed completely, in favor of having the developer explicitly call `IO.popen()` or `URI.open()`. [1]: https://45w1nkv.medium.com/ruby-code-vulnerability-analysis-confirmsnssubscr... [2]: https://bishopfox.com/blog/ruby-vulnerabilities-exploits [3]: https://blog.heroku.com/identifying-ruby-ftp-cve -- https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/