CVE-2012-3403
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 · uneditedHeap-based buffer overflow in the KiSS CEL file format plug-in in GIMP 2.8.x and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted KiSS palette file, which triggers an "invalid free."
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 confidenceHeap-based buffer overflow in GIMP's KiSS CEL file format plug-in when parsing palette files. The vulnerability triggers an 'invalid free' memory corruption, allowing denial of service and potentially arbitrary code execution via specially crafted palette files.
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<= 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
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/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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Determine installed GIMP versionRun 'gimp --version' or check your software package manager for the installed GIMP package versionAffected if Version is 2.8.0 or earlier (any version <= 2.8.0)
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Locate the KiSS plug-in fileSearch for the KiSS CEL file format plug-in in your GIMP plug-ins directory (commonly ~/.gimp-2.8/plug-ins/ or /usr/lib/gimp/2.8/plug-ins/)Affected if The KiSS plug-in file (often named 'file-kiss-cel' or similar) exists in your GIMP plug-ins folder
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Verify plug-in is loadableCheck file permissions on the KiSS plug-in and confirm GIMP can load it by opening GIMP and checking Help > About Plug-ins, or reviewing plug-in debug outputAffected if The KiSS plug-in loads successfully in GIMP without errors
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Check for recent palette file activityReview your recent files, downloads folder, or any recently opened KiSS palette files (.pal or similar extensions associated with KiSS)Affected if You have opened untrusted or unknown KiSS palette files in GIMP
You are affected if GIMP version is 2.8.0 or earlier AND the KiSS CEL plug-in is present and loadable in your environment.
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 dataAvoid opening untrusted or unknown KiSS palette files in GIMP. If available, apply vendor patches for GIMP 2.8.x. The fix requires correcting the memory allocation and deallocation logic in the KiSS plug-in to prevent buffer overflows and invalid free operations.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-3403 — 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-2012-3403 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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