CVE-2012-2837
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 · uneditedThe mnote_olympus_entry_get_value function in olympus/mnote-olympus-entry.c in the EXIF Tag Parsing Library (aka libexif) before 0.6.21 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (divide-by-zero error) via an image with crafted EXIF tags that are not properly handled during the formatting of EXIF maker note tags.
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 confidenceA divide-by-zero vulnerability exists in libexif before version 0.6.21 in the mnote_olympus_entry_get_value function within olympus/mnote-olympus-entry.c. Attackers can trigger the vulnerability by providing specially crafted EXIF maker note tags in an image file, causing the parsing code to divide by zero and crash.
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<= 0.6.20= 0.6.14= 0.6.15= 0.6.16= 0.6.18= 0.6.19CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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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Check installed libexif versionRun 'dpkg -l libexif*' on Debian/Ubuntu systems, or 'rpm -qa | grep libexif' on RHEL/CentOS systems. Alternatively, check the library file directly with 'strings /usr/lib/libexif.so* | grep -i "^0\.6\."' to extract version strings.Affected if The installed version is 0.6.14, 0.6.15, 0.6.16, 0.6.18, 0.6.19, or any version equal to or below 0.6.20
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Identify applications linked to libexifRun 'ldd' on image viewing or editing binaries (e.g., gwenview, eog, digikam, shotwell) to see if they link against libexif. On Debian/Ubuntu run 'apt-cache rdepends libexif' or on RHEL 'rpm -q --whatrequires libexif' to list dependent packages.Affected if Any image processing application on the system links to a vulnerable version of libexif
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Confirm olympus EXIF parsing code is presentCheck if the olympus maker note parsing module exists in the installed library: run 'nm -D /usr/lib/libexif.so* | grep mnote_olympus_entry_get_value' to confirm the vulnerable function is exported and available.Affected if The mnote_olympus_entry_get_value symbol is present in the loaded library, indicating the vulnerable code path exists
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Test image processing with Olympus EXIF dataIdentify test images with Olympus maker notes (EXIF tag 0x927C) and attempt to parse them using tools that use libexif (e.g., 'exif' command line tool, or the application's built-in EXIF viewer). Monitor for crashes or divide-by-zero errors.Affected if Processing an image containing Olympus maker note tags causes a crash or division by zero error
A system is affected if libexif version 0.6.20 or earlier is installed AND any application uses it to process image files containing Olympus maker note tags.
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 libexif to version 0.6.21 or later to obtain the fix for this vulnerability. If upgrading is not immediately possible, consider input validation on image files before processing with libexif.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-2837 — 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-2012-2837 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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