# CVE-2012-5614: Denial of service in n/a

> Authenticated users can crash the MySQL server by sending a crafted SELECT command with deeply nested XML elements.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 3 Dec 2012
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-g68p-rgrw-xp3p

## What is CVE-2012-5614?

CVE-2012-5614 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Mariadb Mariadb, published on 3 Dec 2012. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Oracle MySQL 5.1.67 and earlier and 5.5.29 and earlier, and MariaDB 5.5.28a and possibly other versions, allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (mysqld crash) via a SELECT command with an UpdateXML command containing XML with a large number of unique, nested elements.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-5614?

It affects 7 products.


Products: Mariadb Mariadb, Oracle Mysql, Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop, Redhat Enterprise Linux Eus, Redhat Enterprise Linux Server, Redhat Enterprise Linux Server Aus, Redhat Enterprise Linux Workstation.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-5614?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2012-5614 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-5614 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- MySQL - Denial of Service (PoC) (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in Mariadb Mariadb

- [CVE-2026-49261](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-49261/): MariaDB server has unsafe parameter handling in `wsrep_notify_cmd` (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2026-85746](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-85746/): MariaDB: Out-of-bound buffer write on in `ST_AsText` of nested GeometryCollections (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2026-85748](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-85748/): MariaDB: Use-after-free with a large number of SYS_REFCURSOR's (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2026-92262](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-92262/): MariaDB: Numerous issues caused by historical #mysql50# tablename encoding bypass. (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2023-26785](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-26785/): Code injection in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-5614 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-5614 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Mariadb Mariadb, published on 3 Dec 2012. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-5614 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Mariadb Mariadb. 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-2012-5614/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-5614/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-5614
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-5614
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-5614

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-5614/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.