CVE-2012-1985
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 · uneditedCross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in RealNetworks Helix Server and Helix Mobile Server 14.x before 14.3.x allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that cause a denial of service (stack consumption and daemon crash) via a malformed URL.
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 CSRF vulnerability in RealNetworks Helix Server and Helix Mobile Server versions 14.x before 14.3.x. Attackers can exploit this to hijack administrator authentication and send malformed URLs that cause stack consumption and daemon crash, resulting in denial of service.
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= 14.0.0= 14.0.1= 14.2= 14.2.0.212= 14.0.0= 14.0.1CVSS 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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if Helix Server is runningCheck for Helix Server processes (e.g., 'HelixServer', 'rmserver') or look for the service listening on default ports (554/TCP for RTSP, 8080/TCP for admin)Affected if The process or service is found running on the system
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Determine Helix Server versionCheck the version information in the server installation directory, typically in a version file or banner response from the admin interfaceAffected if The installed version is 14.0.0, 14.0.1, 14.2, or 14.2.0.212 (any version before 14.3.x)
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Identify if Helix Mobile Server is runningCheck for Helix Mobile Server processes or look for its service portsAffected if The Helix Mobile Server process is found running
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Determine Helix Mobile Server versionCheck the version information in the Helix Mobile Server installation directory or from the admin interface bannerAffected if The installed version is 14.0.0 or 14.0.1 (any version before 14.3.x)
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Check admin interface exposureDetermine if the Helix Server admin interface (typically port 8080 or 8443) is accessible from untrusted networksAffected if The admin interface is exposed to the internet or untrusted networks without additional access controls
The system is affected if Helix Server or Helix Mobile Server is running with any version before 14.3.x (specifically 14.0.0, 14.0.1, 14.2, or 14.2.0.212 for Server, or 14.0.0/14.0.1 for Mobile Server) and the admin interface is network-accessible.
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 dataUpdate Helix Server/Helix Mobile Server to version 14.3.x or later to patch the vulnerability. Additionally, implement CSRF tokens for administrative interfaces as a defense-in-depth measure.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 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 $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-1985 — 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-2012-1985 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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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.
- 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