# CVE-2012-2214: Denial of service in n/a

> A remote attacker can crash the Pidgin application by sending a sequence of XMPP file-transfer requests, requiring user interaction to initiate the transfer.

- **Severity:** Low 3.5 (`AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 3 Jul 2012
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** CVE-2012-2323, DEBIAN-CVE-2012-2214, GHSA-8xpc-q358-5r82

## What is CVE-2012-2214?

CVE-2012-2214 is a low-severity denial of service vulnerability in Pidgin Pidgin, published on 3 Jul 2012. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

proxy.c in libpurple in Pidgin before 2.10.4 does not properly handle canceled SOCKS5 connection attempts, which allows user-assisted remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (application crash) via a sequence of XMPP file-transfer requests.

Weakness: CWE-399

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-2214?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Pidgin Pidgin.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-2214?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2012-2214 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-2214 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Pidgin Pidgin

- [CVE-2013-6490](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6490/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2016-1000030](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1000030/): Code injection in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2013-6486](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6486/): Command injection in n/a (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2011-3185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-3185/): Command injection in n/a (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2009-1376](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-1376/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 9.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-2214 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-2214 is a low-severity denial of service vulnerability in Pidgin Pidgin, published on 3 Jul 2012. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-2214 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Pidgin Pidgin. 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-2012-2214/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-2214/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-2214
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-2214
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-2214

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-2214/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.