# CVE-2012-2142: Command injection in poppler

> Remote attackers can execute arbitrary commands via a malicious PDF file exploiting a terminal escape sequence vulnerability in the poppler library.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 9 Jan 2020
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2012-2142, GHSA-pwcf-7grp-gwmj, MGASA-2013-0261

## What is CVE-2012-2142?

CVE-2012-2142 is a high-severity command injection vulnerability in Freedesktop Poppler, published on 9 Jan 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

The error function in Error.cc in poppler before 0.21.4 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a PDF containing an escape sequence for a terminal emulator.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-2142?

It affects 4 products.


Products: Freedesktop Poppler, Opensuse Opensuse, Redhat Enterprise Linux, Xpdfreader Xpdf.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-2142?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2012-2142 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-2142 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Freedesktop Poppler

- [CVE-2018-21009](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-21009/): Integer overflow in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2019-12293](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12293/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2019-10872](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-10872/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2019-9543](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-9543/): Denial of service in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2019-9545](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-9545/): Denial of service in n/a (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-2142 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-2142 is a high-severity command injection vulnerability in Freedesktop Poppler, published on 9 Jan 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-2142 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Freedesktop Poppler. 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-2012-2142/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-2142/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-2142
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-2142
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-2142

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-2142/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.