# CVE-2012-5158: Auth bypass in n/a

> Remote authenticated users can retain access after session secret changes due to improper session invalidation in Puppet Enterprise.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:P/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 14 Mar 2014
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-ggqp-jmq3-2qm6

## What is CVE-2012-5158?

CVE-2012-5158 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Puppet Puppet Enterprise, published on 14 Mar 2014. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Puppet Enterprise (PE) before 2.6.1 does not properly invalidate sessions when the session secret has changed, which allows remote authenticated users to retain access via unspecified vectors.

Weakness: CWE-287 (Improper Authentication)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-5158?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Puppet Puppet Enterprise, Puppetlabs Puppet.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-5158?

No fix has been published for CVE-2012-5158 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2012-5158 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-5158 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Puppet Puppet Enterprise

- [CVE-2023-2530](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-2530/): Privilege escalation in Puppet Enterprise (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-10694](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-10694/): Hardcoded credentials in Puppet Enterprise (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2018-11749](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-11749/): Information disclosure in Puppet Enterprise (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-27020](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-27020/): Other in Puppet Enterprise (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2015-5686](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5686/): Cross-site request forgery in n/a (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-5158 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-5158 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Puppet Puppet Enterprise, published on 14 Mar 2014. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-5158 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Puppet Puppet Enterprise. 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-2012-5158/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-5158/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-5158
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-5158
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-5158

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-5158/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.