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Open Enterprise ServerOperating system · Novell

CVE-2011-4194

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2012-02-02
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
Buffer overflow in Novell iPrint Server in Novell Open Enterprise Server 2 (OES2) through SP3 on Linux allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted attributes-natural-language field.

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 · moderate confidence

Buffer overflow vulnerability in Novell iPrint Server allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by sending a crafted attributes-natural-language field. This affects Novell Open Enterprise Server 2 (OES2) through SP3 on Linux.

MitigationApply available vendor patches for Novell OES2 iPrint Server, or implement input validation on the attributes-natural-language field to reject oversized or malformed data at the application layer as a compensating control.

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
Open Enterprise ServerOperating system
Affected:= 2= 2.0.1= 2.0.2= 2.0.3

CVSS 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
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Novell Open Enterprise Server 2 is installed
    Identify if the target system has Novell Open Enterprise Server 2 installed. This can be done by checking system inventory, installed packages, or the operating system banner. On Linux systems, you may check /etc/novell-release or similar system files that contain OES version information.
    Affected if The system does not have OES2 installed, then the CVE does not apply.
  2. Verify iPrint Server component is present
    Determine whether the iPrint Server module is installed on the OES2 system. This may involve checking for iPrint-related packages, services, or components through the system's package manager or Novell-specific inventory tools.
    Affected if iPrint Server is not installed, then the vulnerability is not present regardless of OES2 version.
  3. Check the installed OES2 version number
    Retrieve the exact version of Novell Open Enterprise Server 2 installed on the system. Compare the version to the affected range: 2, 2.0.1, 2.0.2, and 2.0.3.
    Affected if The installed version is 2, 2.0.1, 2.0.2, or 2.0.3, the system falls within the affected version range.
  4. Determine if iPrint Server service is running
    Check the status of the iPrint Server service or daemon on the system. On OES2 Linux, this may involve checking the status of the iPrint service through service management commands or processes running on the system.
    Affected if The iPrint Server service is actively running, the system is exposed to network attacks via this service.
  5. Inspect iPrint configuration for attributes-natural-language handling
    Examine the iPrint Server configuration files or attributes to understand how the attributes-natural-language field is processed. Look for any logging, validation, or processing of this specific field in the iPrint configuration.
    Affected if The iPrint Server accepts and processes the attributes-natural-language field without proper bounds checking, the vulnerability is present.

A system is affected if it runs OES2 versions 2, 2.0.1, 2.0.2, or 2.0.3 with the iPrint Server component installed and active, accepting external input for the attributes-natural-language field.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply available vendor patches for Novell OES2 iPrint Server, or implement input validation on the attributes-natural-language field to reject oversized or malformed data at the application layer as a compensating control.

Fix this in Open Enterprise Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2011-4194 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data