CVE-2012-3287
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 · uneditedPoul-Henning Kamp md5crypt has insufficient algorithmic complexity and a consequently short runtime, which makes it easier for context-dependent attackers to discover cleartext passwords via a brute-force attack, as demonstrated by an attack using GPU hardware.
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 md5crypt implementation by Poul-Henning Kamp uses insufficient computational complexity, making password brute-force attacks feasible with modern GPU hardware. MD5 was designed for speed rather than password security, and even with the md5crypt salt and iteration scheme, the algorithm remains vulnerable to efficient brute-force attacks using commodity GPU clusters.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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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Locate md5crypt library filesSearch the system for files named md5crypt.c, md5crypt.h, or any library implementing md5crypt function (search in /usr/lib, /usr/include, application lib directories)Affected if md5crypt library files are found present in the environment
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Search source code for md5crypt usageGrep the codebase for strings like 'md5crypt', 'phk_md5', or calls to the md5crypt() functionAffected if Codebase contains references to md5crypt for password hashing
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Inspect password hash storage formatExamine stored password hashes in databases or shadow files - md5crypt produces hashes starting with $1$ (Unix MD5) or similar patternsAffected if Stored password hashes use the md5crypt format (typically $1$ prefix or 32-character hex MD5 with salt)
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Check authentication configuration filesReview web server, application, or system config files for md5crypt being specified as the password hashing methodAffected if Configuration files specify md5crypt as the password hashing algorithm
The environment is affected if md5crypt is deployed or in use anywhere for password hashing, since all versions are vulnerable to efficient GPU-based brute-force attacks.
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 dataMigrate from md5crypt to a modern password hashing algorithm designed for password storage, such as bcrypt, scrypt, or Argon2, with appropriate work factors. Implement a password migration strategy for existing users.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,960.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-3287 — 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-2012-3287 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
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