# CVE-2012-5641: Path traversal in n/a

> Remote attackers can read arbitrary files via directory traversal in MochiWeb, affecting applications like CouchDB.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 18 Mar 2014
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-99r9-958v-rr3x

## What is CVE-2012-5641?

CVE-2012-5641 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in n/a, published on 18 Mar 2014. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Directory traversal vulnerability in the partition2 function in mochiweb_util.erl in MochiWeb before 2.4.0, as used in Apache CouchDB before 1.0.4, 1.1.x before 1.1.2, and 1.2.x before 1.2.1, allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via a ..\ (dot dot backslash) in the default URI.

Weakness: CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-5641?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Apache Couchdb, Mochiweb Project Mochiweb.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-5641?

No fix has been published for CVE-2012-5641 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2012-5641 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-5641 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2022-24706](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-24706/): Apache CouchDB Insecure Default Initialization of Resource (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-1955](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-1955/): Auth bypass in Apache CouchDB (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-12635](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12635/): Privilege escalation in Apache CouchDB (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2018-14889](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-14889/): Code injection in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2016-8742](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-8742/): Privilege escalation in Apache CouchDB (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-5641 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-5641 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in n/a, published on 18 Mar 2014. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-5641 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-2012-5641/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-5641/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-5641
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-5641
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-5641

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-5641/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.