# CVE-2012-4206: Path traversal in n/a

> Local attackers can escalate privileges by placing a malicious DLL in the downloads directory, exploiting an untrusted search path in the Firefox installer.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.9 (`AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 21 Nov 2012
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-8jhp-825c-3qwx

## What is CVE-2012-4206?

CVE-2012-4206 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Mozilla Firefox, published on 21 Nov 2012. 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

Untrusted search path vulnerability in the installer in Mozilla Firefox before 17.0 and Firefox ESR 10.x before 10.0.11 on Windows allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse DLL in the default downloads directory.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-4206?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Mozilla Firefox.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-4206?

No fix has been published for CVE-2012-4206 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2012-4206 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-4206 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Mozilla Firefox

- [CVE-2019-11708](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-11708/): Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird Sandbox Escape (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2010-3765](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-3765/): Mozilla Multiple Products Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-26486](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-26486/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-26485](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-26485/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-11707](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-11707/): Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird Type Confusion (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-4206 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-4206 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Mozilla Firefox, published on 21 Nov 2012. 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-2012-4206 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Mozilla Firefox. 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-2012-4206/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-4206/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-4206
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-4206
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-4206

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-4206/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.