# CVE-2012-2191: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can crash applications using IBM GSKit by sending crafted TLS records, causing a denial of service.

- **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:** No
- **Published:** 8 Aug 2012
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-9f2v-g758-7mf3

## What is CVE-2012-2191?

CVE-2012-2191 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 8 Aug 2012. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

IBM Global Security Kit (aka GSKit) before 8.0.14.22, as used in IBM Rational Directory Server, IBM Tivoli Directory Server, and other products, does not properly validate data during execution of a protection mechanism against the Vaudenay SSL CBC timing attack, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via crafted values in the TLS Record Layer, a different vulnerability than CVE-2012-2333.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-2191?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Ibm Global Security Kit, Ibm Rational Directory Server, Ibm Tivoli Directory Server.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-2191?

No fix has been published for CVE-2012-2191 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2012-2191 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-2191 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2012-2203](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-2203/): Security feature bypass in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2013-6747](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6747/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-2191 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-2191 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 8 Aug 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-2012-2191 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2012-2191/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-2191/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-2191
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-2191
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-2191

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-2191/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.