CVE-2012-3524

medium
Published 2012-09-18 · Modified 2026-04-29
CVSS v3
CVSS v2
6.9
VIR risk
6.9

Description

libdbus 1.5.x and earlier, when used in setuid or other privileged programs in X.org and possibly other products, allows local users to gain privileges and execute arbitrary code via the DBUS_SYSTEM_BUS_ADDRESS environment variable. NOTE: libdbus maintainers state that this is a vulnerability in the applications that do not cleanse environment variables, not in libdbus itself: "we do not support use of libdbus in setuid binaries that do not sanitize their environment before their first call into libdbus."

Predictions

Exploit likelihood
20%
Patch ETA

Heuristic predictions, AS-IS, for prioritization only.

Mitigations

vendor Authored 2026-05-27

Vendor advisory: debian — https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2012-3524

vendor Authored 2026-05-27

Vendor advisory: secalert@redhat.com — https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=52202

vendor Authored 2026-05-27

Vendor advisory: secalert@redhat.com — http://secunia.com/advisories/50537

OS impact

OSVersionStatusFixed in
debian debianbookwormfixed1.6.8-1
debian debianbullseyefixed1.6.8-1
debian debianforkyfixed1.6.8-1
debian debiansidfixed1.6.8-1
debian debiantrixiefixed1.6.8-1

Application impact

VendorProductVersionsFixed
freedesktoplibdbus{"endIncluding":"1.5.12"}
freedesktoplibdbus1.5.0
freedesktoplibdbus1.5.2
freedesktoplibdbus1.5.4
freedesktoplibdbus1.5.6
freedesktoplibdbus1.5.8
freedesktoplibdbus1.5.10

References

CWEs

CWE-264

Verify integrity in audit chain (admin only). AS-IS.