# CVE-2012-4454: Path traversal in n/a

> Local attackers can modify arbitrary files via symlink attacks in openCryptoki when spinlocks are enabled.

- **Severity:** Low 2.9 (`AV:A/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 10 Oct 2012
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2012-4454, GHSA-mvr7-mrp6-366f

## What is CVE-2012-4454?

CVE-2012-4454 is a low-severity path traversal vulnerability in n/a, published on 10 Oct 2012. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

openCryptoki before 2.4.1, when using spinlocks, allows local users to create or set world-writable permissions on arbitrary files via a symlink attack on the (1) .pkapi_xpk or (2) .pkcs11spinloc file in /tmp.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-4454?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Opencryptoki Project Opencryptoki.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-4454?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2012-4454 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-4454 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2026-40253](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-40253/): openCryptoki: Memory safety vulnerabilities in BER/DER decoders in asn1.c (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2026-23893](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23893/): openCryptoki has improper link resolution before file access (link following) (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2026-22791](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-22791/): openCryptoki incorrectly calculates the buffer size in C_WrapKey with CKM_ECDH_AES_KEY_WRAP (medium 6.6)
- [CVE-2012-4455](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-4455/): Path traversal in n/a (medium 6.2)
- [CVE-2024-0914](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-0914/): Opencryptoki: timing side-channel in handling of rsa pkcs#1 v1.5 padded ciphertexts (marvin) (medium 5.9)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-4454 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-4454 is a low-severity path traversal vulnerability in n/a, published on 10 Oct 2012. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-4454 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-2012-4454/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-4454/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-4454
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-4454
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-4454

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-4454/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.