# CVE-2012-6123: Other in chicken

> An attacker can exploit improper NUL byte handling in Chicken Scheme to conduct a poisoned NUL byte attack, potentially causing unexpected behavior.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 31 Oct 2019
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2012-6123, GHSA-448r-5hhg-h92c

## What is CVE-2012-6123?

CVE-2012-6123 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 31 Oct 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Chicken before 4.8.0 does not properly handle NUL bytes in certain strings, which allows an attacker to conduct "poisoned NUL byte attack."

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-6123?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Call-Cc Chicken, Debian Debian Linux.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-6123?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2012-6123 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-6123 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2022-45145](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-45145/): Command injection in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2014-6310](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-6310/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2012-6125](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-6125/): Denial of service in chicken (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-6830](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-6830/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2013-2024](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2024/): Command injection in chicken (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-6123 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-6123 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 31 Oct 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-6123 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. 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-2012-6123/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-6123/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-6123
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-6123
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-6123

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-6123/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.