CVE-2012-2670
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 · uneditedmanageuser.php in Collabtive before 0.7.6 allows remote authenticated users, and possibly unauthenticated attackers, to bypass intended access restrictions and upload and execute arbitrary files by uploading an avatar file with an accepted Content-Type such as image/jpeg, then accessing it via a direct request to the file in files/standard/avatar.
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 manageuser.php component in Collabtive before version 0.7.6 lacks proper server-side file content validation during avatar uploads. The application accepts files based solely on the client-provided Content-Type header (e.g., image/jpeg) rather than validating the actual file content, allowing malicious PHP or other executable code to be uploaded. Uploaded files are stored in the web-accessible files/standard/avatar directory where they can be directly requested and executed, enabling remote code execution.
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<= 0.7.5= 0.6.4= 0.6.5= 0.7CVSS 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
- Single
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/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 Collabtive installationLocate the Collabtive web application files on the server. Check for the presence of manageuser.php or other core Collabtive PHP files.Affected if Collabtive is installed on the server.
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Determine installed Collabtive versionExamine the version information in the Collabtive installation, typically found in a version file, changelog, or the main index/include file. Compare the version number to the affected ranges: <= 0.7.5, 0.6.4, 0.6.5, or 0.7.Affected if The installed version is 0.7.5 or lower, or specifically 0.6.4, 0.6.5, or 0.7.
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Verify avatar upload functionality existsLocate manageuser.php and confirm it handles avatar uploads. Check for upload form handling in the user profile or avatar settings area of the application.Affected if The manageuser.php component with avatar upload functionality is present and accessible.
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Check upload directory location and web accessibilityInspect the files/standard/avatar directory within the Collabtive web root. Verify the directory exists and is web-accessible (accessible via HTTP/HTTPS requests).Affected if The files/standard/avatar directory exists and can be accessed over the web.
A user is affected if Collabtive version 0.7.5 or lower (including 0.6.4, 0.6.5, or 0.7) is installed with the manageuser.php avatar upload feature accessible and the files/standard/avatar directory is web-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 dataUpgrade to Collabtive 0.7.6 or later, which implements proper server-side MIME type validation and content verification. Additionally, disable script execution in upload directories and consider storing avatar files outside the web root.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-2670 — 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-2012-2670 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