CVE-2012-5536 Information disclosure in n/a

Medium 6.2 Published 22 Feb 2013 Updated 6 Aug 2024

Local attackers can exploit a Red Hat PAM module flaw to read sensitive memory or escalate privileges via applications like sudo.

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

What is CVE-2012-5536?

CVE-2012-5536 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux, published on 22 Feb 2013. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

A certain Red Hat build of the pam_ssh_agent_auth module on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6 and Fedora Rawhide calls the glibc error function instead of the error function in the OpenSSH codebase, which allows local users to obtain sensitive information from process memory or possibly gain privileges via crafted use of an application that relies on this module, as demonstrated by su and sudo.

Weakness: CWE-20

Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-5536?

It affects 2 products.

Linux distribution packages (28)

`openssh` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-askpass` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-clients` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-ldap` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-server` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`pam_ssh_agent_auth` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client	All versions	`0:0.9.3-84.1.el6`
`openssh` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-askpass` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-clients` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-ldap` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-server` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`pam_ssh_agent_auth` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode	All versions	`0:0.9.3-84.1.el6`
`openssh` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-askpass` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-clients` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-ldap` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-server` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`pam_ssh_agent_auth` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server	All versions	`0:0.9.3-84.1.el6`
`openssh` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-askpass` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-clients` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-ldap` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`openssh-server` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation	All versions	`0:5.3p1-84.1.el6`
`pam_ssh_agent_auth` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation	All versions	`0:0.9.3-84.1.el6`

Products include Fedora Project Fedora Release Rawhide, Redhat Enterprise Linux.

How do I fix CVE-2012-5536?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2012-5536 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-5536 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-xw28-c23x-fjj4, RHSA-2013:0519.