CVE-2012-4425: Medium severity Freedesktop Spice-gtk vulnerability
It was discovered that the spice-gtk setuid helper application, spice-client-glib-usb-acl-helper, did not clear the environment variables read by the libraries it uses. A local attacker could possibly use this flaw to escalate their privileges by setting specific environment variables before running the helper application.
This flaw is similar to CVE-2012-3524
Other sources
libgio, when used in setuid or other privileged programs in spice-gtk and possibly other products, allows local users to gain privileges and execute arbitrary code via the DBUSSYSTEMBUSADDRESS environment variable. NOTE: it could be argued that this is a vulnerability in the applications that do not cleanse environment variables, not in libgio itself.
— MITRE
Affected Software
Remediation
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the severity of CVE-2012-4425?
CVE-2012-4425 has been classified as having moderate severity due to the potential for privilege escalation.
How do I fix CVE-2012-4425?
To fix CVE-2012-4425, ensure that you update the spice-gtk package to a version where this vulnerability has been addressed.
Who is affected by CVE-2012-4425?
Users of the spice-gtk setuid helper application and related GTK libgio libraries are affected by CVE-2012-4425.
Can CVE-2012-4425 be exploited remotely?
CVE-2012-4425 requires local access to the system to exploit the vulnerability.
What type of vulnerability is CVE-2012-4425?
CVE-2012-4425 is a privilege escalation vulnerability caused by insufficient environment variable management.