# CVE-2012-0845: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can cause denial of service in Python's SimpleXMLRPCServer by sending malformed XML-RPC requests with mismatched Content-Length headers.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 5 Oct 2012
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** AZL-109593, DEBIAN-CVE-2012-0845, GHSA-68xj-hf27-5jvq, PSF-2012-3

## What is CVE-2012-0845?

CVE-2012-0845 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Python Python, published on 5 Oct 2012. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

SimpleXMLRPCServer.py in SimpleXMLRPCServer in Python before 2.6.8, 2.7.x before 2.7.3, 3.x before 3.1.5, and 3.2.x before 3.2.3 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop and CPU consumption) via an XML-RPC POST request that contains a smaller amount of data than specified by the Content-Length header.

Weakness: CWE-399

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-0845?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Python Python.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-0845?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2012-0845 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-0845 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Python Python

- [CVE-2008-5031](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-5031/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2014-4650](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-4650/): Path traversal in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-5636](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-5636/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2007-4559](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-4559/): Path traversal in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-17522](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-17522/): Command injection in n/a (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-0845 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-0845 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Python Python, published on 5 Oct 2012. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-0845 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Python Python. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-0845/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-0845/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-0845
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-0845
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-0845

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-0845/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.