CVE-2010-4712
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedMultiple stack-based buffer overflows in gwia.exe in GroupWise Internet Agent (GWIA) in Novell GroupWise before 8.02HP allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a Content-Type header containing (1) multiple items separated by ; (semicolon) characters or (2) crafted string data.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceStack-based buffer overflow vulnerability in gwia.exe (GroupWise Internet Agent) when parsing Content-Type headers. The vulnerability is triggered by headers containing multiple semicolon-separated items or crafted string data, allowing attackers to overwrite stack memory and execute arbitrary code remotely without authentication.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data<= 8.0.2= 4.1= 4.1a= 5.0= 5.1= 5.2= 5.5= 5.57e= 6.0= 6.0.1= 6.5= 6.5.2CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm gwia.exe is runningOn the server hosting GroupWise Internet Agent, open Task Manager or run 'tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq gwia.exe"' to check if the gwia.exe process is active.Affected if gwia.exe process is running and its version matches an affected version listed in the CVE.
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Locate and identify gwia.exe versionFind the gwia.exe file in the GroupWise installation directory (typically under /opt/novell/groupwise/gwia or C:\Program Files\Novell\GroupWise\gwia). Right-click the file, select Properties, and note the File Version.Affected if The file version corresponds to any of these affected versions: 4.1, 4.1a, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 5.5, 5.57e, 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.5, 6.5.2, or 8.0.2 and below.
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Check GroupWise server versionOn the GroupWise server, check the installed GroupWise version via the installer information, or run 'gwchvers' command if available, or inspect the registry key (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Novell\GroupWise\Server) on Windows servers.Affected if The installed GroupWise version is 8.0.2 or lower, or matches any specific version listed: 4.1, 4.1a, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 5.5, 5.57e, 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.5, 6.5.2.
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Verify GWIA is network-exposedCheck if the server running gwia.exe has open ports typically used by GWIA (TCP 7180 for HTTP, 7181 for HTTPS, 25 for SMTP). Use 'netstat -an | findstr "7180 7181 25"' or a network scanner to determine if these ports are listening on interfaces accessible from untrusted networks.Affected if GWIA ports are open and accessible from untrusted networks, allowing external Content-Type headers to reach the vulnerable parsing code.
You are affected if gwia.exe is running with a version matching 8.0.2 or any of the specific versions 4.1 through 6.5.2, and the service is network-accessible to process incoming Content-Type headers.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade to GroupWise 8.02HP or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict network access to the GWIA service using firewalls or network segmentation to limit exposure to untrusted networks.
GroupWise 8.02HP or later
- 1. Identify the current GroupWise Internet Agent (GWIA) version by checking the GroupWise administration console or the gwia.exe file properties
- 2. Download GroupWise 8.02HP or later from the Novell/Micro Focus support portal or patch download site
- 3. Apply the upgrade following Novell's official GroupWise upgrade documentation - this typically involves stopping the GWIA service, applying the patch, and restarting the service
- 4. Verify the GWIA version after upgrade by checking gwia.exe properties or the GroupWise administrator to confirm version 8.02HP or higher is installed
- 5. Test that the GroupWise Internet Agent functions normally after the upgrade
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing10.0 h
- Review / QA5.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-4712 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2010-4712 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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