CVE-2012-1187
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 · uneditedBitlbee does not drop extra group privileges correctly in unix.c
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 confidenceBitlbee fails to properly drop additional group privileges after initial privilege reduction in unix.c, allowing an attacker to retain elevated group permissions beyond the intended scope. This privilege escalation vulnerability stems from incomplete implementation of group privilege dropping (likely setgroups/initgroups) after the primary privilege drop operation.
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= 3.0.4CVSS 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
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 Bitlbee versionRun 'bitlbee -v' or 'bitlbee --version' to see the installed version. On some systems, check the package manager: 'dpkg -l | grep bitlbee' or 'rpm -qi bitlbee'.Affected if The installed version is exactly 3.0.4
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Verify running process group privilegesWhile Bitlbee is running as a daemon, run 'ps aux | grep bitlbee' to find the PID, then run 'id <pid>' or 'cat /proc/<pid>/status | grep Groups' to inspect the process group memberships.Affected if The process shows additional group IDs beyond the primary group that should have been dropped after privilege reduction
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Check effective group permissionsRun 'groups' as the bitlbee user, or examine /etc/group to see which groups the bitlbee user belongs to versus what groups the running process actually retains.Affected if The process retains group memberships that the bitlbee user account does not formally possess, indicating improper privilege dropping
You are affected if running Bitlbee version 3.0.4 and the process retains elevated group permissions beyond what the user account should have after authentication.
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.
dbcve · scopedApply the patch for CVE-2012-1187 which corrects the group privilege dropping logic in unix.c, or upgrade to a version where this issue is resolved. Verify that group privileges are fully dropped after authentication.
Bitlbee 3.1 or later (fixed release)
- 1. Identify the current Bitlbee version installed (e.g., `bitlbee -v` or `dpkg -l | grep bitlbee`)
- 2. Stop the Bitlbee service before upgrading (e.g., `systemctl stop bitlbee` or `service bitlbee stop`)
- 3. Update the package repository to ensure access to newer packages
- 4. Upgrade Bitlbee to version 3.1 or later using the appropriate package manager (e.g., `apt-get update && apt-get install bitlbee` or `yum update bitlbee`)
- 5. Verify the upgraded version is 3.1 or later
- 6. Start the Bitlbee service (e.g., `systemctl start bitlbee` or `service bitlbee start`)
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 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 $3,328.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-1187 — 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-2012-1187 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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