CVE-2012-2291
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 · uneditedEMC Avamar Client 4.x, 5.x, and 6.x on HP-UX and Mac OS X, and the EMC Avamar plugin 4.x, 5.x, and 6.x for Oracle, uses world-writable permissions for cache directories, which allows local users to gain privileges via an unspecified symlink attack.
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 confidenceThe EMC Avamar Client and Oracle plugin create cache directories with world-writable (777) permissions on HP-UX, Mac OS X, and Oracle environments. Local users can exploit this by placing malicious files or symlinks in these directories to escalate privileges to root or other privileged 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= 4.0= 4.1= 5.0= 5.0.0-407= 5.0.4-26= 6.0= 4.0= 5.0= 6.0= 6.1CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
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 EMC Avamar installationRun 'dpkg -l | grep avamar' or 'rpm -qa | grep avamar' on Linux/Unix systems, or check the installed programs list on Mac OS XAffected if The installed version matches 4.0, 4.1, 5.0, 5.0.0-407, 5.0.4-26, or 6.0 for the client; or 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, or 6.1 for the plugin
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Confirm operating systemRun 'uname -a' or check system detailsAffected if The system is HP-UX, Mac OS X, or Oracle Linux/Unix environment
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Locate cache directoriesSearch for directories named 'cache' or '.avamar' in common locations such as /var/cache, /tmp, or the user's home directory under the Avamar installation pathAffected if Cache directories exist under the Avamar installation or user directories
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Check cache directory permissionsRun 'ls -la <cache_directory>' to inspect permissions on each identified cache directoryAffected if Any cache directory shows 'rwxrwxrwx' (777) permissions, indicating world-writable access
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Verify ownership and group settingsRun 'stat <cache_directory>' to view detailed ownership metadataAffected if The directory is owned by root or a privileged system account and is world-writable, creating a privilege escalation risk
A user is affected if they have EMC Avamar Client or Plugin installed on HP-UX, Mac OS X, or Oracle environments with version 4.0 through 6.1, and any Avamar-related cache directory has 777 (world-writable) permissions.
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 dataRestrict cache directory permissions to 750 or 700 (owner-only read/write/execute) to prevent unauthorized local users from manipulating files in these directories.
- Consultation4.0 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 $3,968.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-2291 — 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-2012-2291 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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