CVE-2012-0279
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 · uneditedQuest Toad for Data Analysts 3.0.1 uses weak permissions (Everyone: Full Control) for the %COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\Quest Shared directory, which allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse file.
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 confidenceQuest Toad for Data Analysts 3.0.1 installs the %COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\Quest Shared directory with Everyone: Full Control permissions, allowing any local user to write executable files to that location and potentially execute them with elevated privileges.
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= 3.0.1CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:M/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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Verify Quest Toad for Data Analysts 3.0.1 is installedCheck the Windows registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Quest\Toad for Data Analysts or look in Add/Remove Programs for Quest Toad for Data Analysts version 3.0.1Affected if The software version is exactly 3.0.1
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Confirm the vulnerable directory existsVerify that %COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\Quest Shared (typically C:\Program Files\Common Files\Quest Shared) exists on the systemAffected if The directory C:\Program Files\Common Files\Quest Shared is present
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Check permissions on the Quest Shared directoryRight-click the Quest Shared folder, go to Properties > Security, and examine the permissions for the Everyone groupAffected if The Everyone group is listed with Full Control or Write permissions
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Verify Everyone group has Full ControlIn the Security tab of the Quest Shared folder properties, double-click the Everyone entry and check the Allow column for Full ControlAffected if The Everyone group has Full Control permission granted
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Confirm executable placement riskCheck if any .exe or .dll files exist in the Quest Shared directory that could be replaced by an unprivileged userAffected if The directory is writable by any local user due to overly permissive ACLs
A user is affected if Quest Toad for Data Analysts 3.0.1 is installed AND the %COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\Quest Shared directory exists with Everyone: Full Control permissions, allowing unprivileged local users to drop and execute malicious files.
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.
From vendor dataRestrict permissions on the %COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\Quest Shared directory by removing the Everyone group and assigning appropriate restricted permissions to authorized users or groups only.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-0279 — 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-2012-0279 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data