CVE-2012-5783 Improper Certificate Validation in Apache Commons HttpClient
Medium 5.8
Published
Updated
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-5783 and fix it if it is affected.
What it is: CVE-2012-5783 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 4 Nov 2012. 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-2012-5783 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Affected packages and fixed versions:
- commons-httpclient:commons-httpclient (Maven): affected from 3.0; no fix listed
- commons-httpclient:commons-httpclient (Maven): affected from 3.0; no fix listed
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-2012-5783/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-5783/index.md)
Man-in-the-middle attackers can spoof SSL servers due to missing hostname verification in Apache Commons HttpClient, compromising secure communications.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2012-5783?
CVE-2012-5783 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 4 Nov 2012. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Apache Commons HttpClient 3.x, as used in Amazon Flexible Payments Service (FPS) merchant Java SDK and other products, does not verify that the server hostname matches a domain name in the subject's Common Name (CN) or subjectAltName field of the X.509 certificate, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to spoof SSL servers via an arbitrary valid certificate.
Weakness: CWE-295
Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-5783?
2 open source packages ship an affected version, including commons-httpclient:commons-httpclient. It affects 2 products.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
commons-httpclient:commons-httpclient Maven | From 3.0 | None |
commons-httpclient:commons-httpclient Maven | From 3.0 | None |
Linux distribution packages (32)
jakarta-commons-httpclient Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server | All versions | 1:3.0-7jpp.2 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server | All versions | 1:3.0-7jpp.2 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-demo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server | All versions | 1:3.0-7jpp.2 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-javadoc Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server | All versions | 1:3.0-7jpp.2 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-manual Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server | All versions | 1:3.0-7jpp.2 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-demo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-javadoc Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-manual Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-demo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-javadoc Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-manual Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-demo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-javadoc Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-manual Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-demo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-javadoc Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient-manual Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation | All versions | 1:3.1-0.7.el6_3 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient Red Hat:jboss_enterprise_application_platform:5::el4 | All versions | 1:3.1-2.1_patch_01.ep5.el4 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient Red Hat:jboss_enterprise_application_platform:5::el5 | All versions | 1:3.1-2.1_patch_01.ep5.el5 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient Red Hat:jboss_enterprise_application_platform:5::el6 | All versions | 1:3.1-2_patch_01.ep5.el6 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient Red Hat:jboss_enterprise_web_platform:5::el5 | All versions | 1:3.1-2.1_patch_01.ep5.el5 |
jakarta-commons-httpclient Red Hat:jboss_enterprise_web_platform:5::el6 | All versions | 1:3.1-2_patch_01.ep5.el6 |
redhat-support-plugin-rhev Red Hat:rhev_manager:3 | All versions | 0:3.3.0-14.el6ev |
apache-commons-httpclient openSUSE:Tumbleweed | All versions | 3.1-8.5 |
Products include Apache Httpclient, Canonical Ubuntu Linux.
How do I fix CVE-2012-5783?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Is CVE-2012-5783 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-5783 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux
- CVE-2013-4366 Hostname verification in Apache HttpClient 4.3 was disabled by default
- CVE-2026-71290 Apache HttpComponents Client: TLS hostname verification silently disabled on the async transport (default config, MITM)
- CVE-2025-27820 Apache HttpComponents: PSL (Public Suffix List) validation bypass
- CVE-2026-40542 Apache HttpClient accepts SCRAM-SHA-256 authentication without proper mutual authentication verification
- CVE-2026-64607 Apache HttpComponents Client: Connection Leak on Content-Encoding Decode Error Leads to Pool Exhaustion DoS
Sources
Also known as CLSA-2025-1751328213, DEBIAN-CVE-2012-5783, GHSA-3832-9276-x7gf, MGASA-2013-0199, RHSA-2013:0270, RHSA-2013:0680 and 3 more.