CVE-2012-2181
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 · uneditedDirectory traversal vulnerability in the Dojo module in IBM WebSphere Portal 7.0.0.1 and 7.0.0.2 before CF14, and 8.0, allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via a crafted 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 confidenceDirectory traversal vulnerability in the Dojo module of IBM WebSphere Portal allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files on the system by crafting URLs with traversal sequences (e.g., ../../../'). The vulnerability affects versions 7.0.0.1, 7.0.0.2 before CF14, and 8.0.
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= 7.0.0.1= 7.0.0.2= 8.0CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/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 installed WebSphere Portal versionCheck the installed version by reviewing the installation logs, the About WebSphere Portal page in the admin console, or by running the versionInfo command in the PortalServer/bin directoryAffected if The installed version matches 7.0.0.1, 7.0.0.2 before CF14, or 8.0
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Confirm Dojo module is enabledVerify that the Dojo module is deployed and accessible. This can be checked by attempting to access the Dojo endpoint path (typically /wps/portal_dojo/ or similar /dojo/ paths under the WebSphere Portal context root)Affected if The Dojo module is deployed and reachable via HTTP/HTTPS requests
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Verify Dojo endpoint is exposed without filteringReview the WebSphere Portal configuration or proxy settings to determine if the Dojo module endpoints are directly accessible without URL filtering rules that block traversal patternsAffected if The Dojo module is accessible and there are no network-level or application-level filters blocking '../' sequences in URLs
A system is affected if it runs IBM WebSphere Portal versions 7.0.0.1, 7.0.0.2 before CF14, or 8.0, and has the Dojo module exposed without URL traversal filtering.
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 dataApply IBM WebSphere Portal Cumulative Fix 14 (CF14) for version 7.0.x or upgrade to a patched version. If immediate patching is not feasible, implement URL filtering at the network edge to block traversal patterns like '../' in requests to the Dojo module.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-2181 — 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-2012-2181 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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