CVE-2012-0301
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 · uneditedSession fixation vulnerability in Brightmail Control Center in Symantec Message Filter 6.3 allows remote attackers to hijack web sessions via unspecified vectors.
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 confidenceThis is a session fixation vulnerability in Brightmail Control Center, a component of Symantec Message Filter 6.3. The flaw allows remote attackers to establish or force a known session ID on a user, then hijack that session after the user authenticates. Session fixation occurs when an application accepts pre-defined session identifiers rather than generating new ones upon login, enabling attackers to impersonate legitimate users.
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<= 6.3CVSS 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
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:A/AC:M/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed version of Symantec Message FilterCheck the installed software on the system for 'Symantec Message Filter' or 'Brightmail Control Center' and note the version number displayed. This can be done via the Windows Add/Remove Programs panel, the application's about dialog, or by querying the installed packages via system inventory tools.Affected if The installed version is 6.3 or any version lower than 6.3 (e.g., 6.2, 6.1, 6.0).
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Confirm Brightmail Control Center component presenceVerify that the Brightmail Control Center component is installed as part of the Symantec Message Filter deployment. Check the program files directory for Brightmail Control Center executables or services, or review the application's component list if available in the management console.Affected if Brightmail Control Center is present as a component of the Symantec Message Filter installation.
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Inspect session ID handling during authenticationAttempt to log into the Brightmail Control Center web interface while providing a known session ID via cookie or URL parameter. Observe whether the application accepts this pre-existing session identifier or regenerates a new one upon successful authentication.Affected if The application accepts and continues using the user-supplied session ID after login rather than generating a fresh session identifier.
If Symantec Message Filter version 6.3 or earlier is installed with the Brightmail Control Center component, and the application does not regenerate session IDs upon authentication, the environment is affected by this session fixation vulnerability.
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 dataImplement session ID regeneration: the application should invalidate the existing session ID and create a new one after successful authentication. Additionally, validate and reject session IDs provided via URL parameters or cookies that were not generated by the system.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,664.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-0301 — 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-2012-0301 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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