Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2012-1096
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 · uneditedNetworkManager 0.9 and earlier allows local users to use other users' certificates or private keys when making a connection via the file path when adding a new connection.
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 confidenceThis is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in NetworkManager 0.9 and earlier. Local users can access other users' certificates or private keys through the file path when adding a new connection, potentially allowing credential theft across local user accounts.
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
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 8.0= 9.0= 10.0<= 0.9.0CVSS 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
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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 NetworkManager versionRun 'NetworkManager --version' or 'rpm -q NetworkManager' (RHEL) or 'dpkg -l network-manager' (Debian) to find the installed versionAffected if Version is 0.9.0 or earlier, or the package is not found but NetworkManager functionality exists through older libraries
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Confirm NetworkManager service statusRun 'systemctl status NetworkManager' or check if NetworkManager process is running with 'ps aux | grep NetworkManager'Affected if NetworkManager is actively running or enabled on the system
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Locate certificate and private key directoriesInspect common certificate paths: ~/.local/share/nm-system-settings/, /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/, or run 'find / -name '*.pem' -o -name '*.key' -o -name '*.crt' 2>/dev/null' to find certificate/key files used by NetworkManagerAffected if Certificate or private key files exist in NetworkManager-accessible directories
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Check file permissions on sensitive certificates/keysRun 'ls -la' on identified certificate and private key files, specifically checking permissions on files in user home directories or /etc/NetworkManager/Affected if Any .key, .pem, or private certificate files have permissions broader than 0600 (such as 0644 or 0777), allowing other local users to read them
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Verify multi-user environmentCheck for multiple local users with 'getent passwd | grep -v /nologin | grep -v /false' or 'cat /etc/passwd' to list all local accountsAffected if Multiple local user accounts exist on the system (the vulnerability allows one user to access another user's credentials)
The environment is affected if NetworkManager version 0.9.0 or earlier is installed and running, and certificate or private key files with overly permissive permissions exist on a system with multiple local users.
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 dataUpgrade NetworkManager to a version newer than 0.9 that includes the security fix, or ensure strict file permissions (0600) on certificates and private key files to prevent unauthorized access by other local users.
Fix this in Debian Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-1096 — 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-2012-1096 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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