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Mac Os XOperating system · Apple

CVE-2012-0661

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2012-05-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
77/100
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
Use-after-free vulnerability in QuickTime in Apple Mac OS X 10.7.x before 10.7.4 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (application crash) via a crafted movie file with JPEG2000 encoding.

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 confidence

Use-after-free vulnerability in QuickTime's handling of JPEG2000 encoded movie files on Mac OS X 10.7.x before 10.7.4. When processing a specially crafted movie file, QuickTime incorrectly manages memory deallocation, leaving a pointer to freed memory that can be reused by attackers to execute arbitrary code or crash the application.

MitigationUpdate Mac OS X to version 10.7.4 or later which patches the vulnerability. Alternatively, block or restrict access to untrusted QuickTime movie files, particularly those using JPEG2000 encoding, as a defense-in-depth measure.

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
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:= 10.7.0= 10.7.1= 10.7.2
Mac Os X ServerOperating system
Affected:= 10.7.0= 10.7.1= 10.7.2

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
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/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 checks

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

  1. Check the installed Mac OS X version
    Open Terminal and run: sw_vers -productVersion
    Affected if The version is 10.7.0, 10.7.1, or 10.7.2 (vulnerable versions before 10.7.4)
  2. Verify QuickTime components exist
    Check for QuickTime framework presence at /System/Library/Frameworks/QuickTime.framework
    Affected if QuickTime framework is installed and available on the system
  3. Confirm JPEG2000 codec support
    Run: defaults read /System/Library/Frameworks/QuickTime.framework/Resources/Info.plist CFBundleDocumentTypes 2>/dev/null | grep -i jpeg2000 or inspect QuickTime plugin directory for JPEG2000 components
    Affected if QuickTime has JPEG2000 encoding/decoding capability enabled (required for exploitation)
  4. Identify user-accessible movie file handlers
    Check which applications are registered to open .mov, .mp4, or other QuickTime-compatible files: mdls -name kMDItemContentTypeTree /System/Library/QuickTime* 2>/dev/null
    Affected if QuickTime is set as the default handler for movie files, allowing potential file processing

The system is affected if it runs Mac OS X 10.7.0, 10.7.1, or 10.7.2 with QuickTime and JPEG2000 support enabled, and processes untrusted JPEG2000-encoded movie files.

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

Update Mac OS X to version 10.7.4 or later which patches the vulnerability. Alternatively, block or restrict access to untrusted QuickTime movie files, particularly those using JPEG2000 encoding, as a defense-in-depth measure.

Fix this in Mac Os X Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
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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-2012-0661 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
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