# CVE-2012-3523: Other in n/a

> Man-in-the-middle attackers can inject commands into encrypted NNTP sessions due to improper I/O buffering in INN's STARTTLS implementation.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.8 (`AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/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:** 11 Nov 2012
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2012-3523, GHSA-g67q-3725-x6h7

## What is CVE-2012-3523?

CVE-2012-3523 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 11 Nov 2012. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The STARTTLS implementation in nnrpd in INN before 2.5.3 does not properly restrict I/O buffering, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to insert commands into encrypted sessions by sending a cleartext command that is processed after TLS is in place, related to a "plaintext command injection" attack, a similar issue to CVE-2011-0411.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-3523?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Isc Inn.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-3523?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2012-3523 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-3523 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2002-0525](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-0525/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-1999-0754](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-0754/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-1999-0100](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-0100/): Auth bypass in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2004-0045](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-0045/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-1999-0247](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-0247/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-3523 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-3523 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 11 Nov 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-2012-3523 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-2012-3523/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-3523/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-3523
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-3523
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-3523

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-3523/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.