# CVE-2012-3405: Integer overflow in n/a

> Attackers can cause denial of service and bypass format-string protections in glibc via crafted format strings with many specifiers.

- **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:** 10 Feb 2014
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2012-3405, GHSA-fwxh-prpx-6qg8

## What is CVE-2012-3405?

CVE-2012-3405 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 10 Feb 2014. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The vfprintf function in stdio-common/vfprintf.c in libc in GNU C Library (aka glibc) 2.14 and other versions does not properly calculate a buffer length, which allows context-dependent attackers to bypass the FORTIFY_SOURCE format-string protection mechanism and cause a denial of service (segmentation fault and crash) via a format string with a large number of format specifiers that triggers "desynchronization within the buffer size handling," a different vulnerability than CVE-2012-3404.

Weakness: CWE-189

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-3405?

It affects 4 products.


Products: Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Gnu Glibc, Redhat Enterprise Linux, Redhat Enterprise Virtualization.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-3405?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2012-3405 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-3405 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

- [CVE-2020-11651](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11651/): SaltStack Salt Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-7247](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7247/): OpenSMTPD Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-16928](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16928/): Exim Out-of-bounds Write (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-6789](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6789/): Exim Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-2590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2590/): Oracle Java SE and Java SE Embedded Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-3405 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-3405 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 10 Feb 2014. 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-2012-3405 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Canonical Ubuntu Linux. 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-2012-3405/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-3405/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-3405
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-3405
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-3405

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-3405/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.