dbcve.org
Performance Co PilotApplication · Sgi

CVE-2012-3418

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2012-08-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 3.6.4 or later.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
libpcp in Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) before 3.6.5 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code via (1) a PDU with the numcreds field value greater than the number of actual elements to the __pmDecodeCreds function in p_creds.c; (2) the string byte number value to the __pmDecodeNameList function in p_pmns.c; (3) the numids value to the __pmDecodeIDList function in p_pmns.c; (4) unspecified vectors to the __pmDecodeProfile function in p_profile.c; the (5) status number value or (6) string number value to the __pmDecodeNameList function in p_pmns.c; (7) certain input to the __pmDecodeResult function in p_result.c; (8) the name length field (namelen) to the DecodeNameReq function in p_pmns.c; (9) a crafted PDU_FETCH request to the __pmDecodeFetch function in p_fetch.c; (10) the namelen field in the __pmDecodeInstanceReq function in p_instance.c; (11) the buflen field to the __pmDecodeText function in p_text.c; (12) PDU_INSTANCE packets to the __pmDecodeInstance in p_instance.c; or the (13) c_numpmid or (14) v_numval fields to the __pmDecodeLogControl function in p_lcontrol.c, which triggers integer overflows, heap-based buffer overflows, and/or buffer over-reads.

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 confidence

libpcp in Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) before 3.6.5 contains multiple memory corruption vulnerabilities across 14 different PDU decoding functions (__pmDecodeCreds, __pmDecodeNameList, __pmDecodeIDList, __pmDecodeProfile, __pmDecodeResult, DecodeNameReq, __pmDecodeFetch, __pmDecodeInstanceReq, __pmDecodeText, __pmDecodeInstance, __pmDecodeLogControl). Malformed PDU inputs with oversized field values (numcreds, numids, namelen, buflen, etc.) trigger integer overflows, heap-based buffer overflows, and buffer over-reads, potentially allowing remote denial of service or arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpgrade to PCP version 3.6.5 or later. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, restrict network access to PCP services and implement input validation at network boundaries.

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
Performance Co PilotApplication
Affected:<= 3.6.4= 2.1.1= 2.1.2= 2.1.3= 2.1.4= 2.1.5= 2.1.6= 2.1.7= 2.1.8= 2.1.9= 2.1.10= 2.1.11

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify if PCP is installed
    Run 'rpm -qa | grep -i pcp' for Red Hat-based systems, 'dpkg -l | grep -i pcp' for Debian-based, or check for /usr/lib/libpcp* or /usr/local/lib/libpcp* files
    Affected if No PCP packages or libpcp library files found means not affected
  2. Determine installed PCP version
    Run 'pcp --version' or 'pmversion' command, or query the package manager: 'rpm -q pcp' or 'dpkg -s pcp'
    Affected if Version is 3.6.4 or earlier, or is one of 2.1.1 through 2.1.11 - compare against affected ranges
  3. Check if PCP services are running
    Run 'ps aux | grep -E "pmcd|pmlogger"' or check for listening ports using 'netstat -anp | grep -E ":5432|:5230|:5231|:5232"'
    Affected if PCP daemon (pmcd) or related services are running and network-accessible increases exposure to remote exploitation
  4. Verify vulnerable PDU decoding library
    Check libpcp version directly: 'ls -la /usr/lib/libpcp*' or 'strings /usr/lib/libpcp.so* | grep "libpcp" | head -5'
    Affected if The libpcp library exists and version cannot be determined as 3.6.5 or later indicates potential vulnerability

System is affected if PCP/libpcp is installed with version 3.6.4 or earlier, or any version 2.1.1-2.1.11, and the PCP services are exposed to network or untrusted inputs.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 3.6.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to PCP version 3.6.5 or later. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, restrict network access to PCP services and implement input validation at network boundaries.

Fix this in Performance Co Pilot Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation24.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
48.0 hours of engineering $8,400
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $13,440.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-3418 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2012-3418 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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