CVE-2012-3484
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 · uneditedTunnelblick 3.3beta20 and earlier relies on a test for specific ownership and permissions to determine whether a program can be safely executed, which allows local users to bypass intended access restrictions and gain privileges via a (1) user-mountable image or (2) network share.
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 · moderate confidenceTunnelblick versions 3.3beta20 and earlier contain a privilege escalation vulnerability where the application relies on filesystem ownership and permissions checks to determine if a program can be safely executed. Local users can bypass these checks by using user-mountable images or network shares to place executables in locations that satisfy the ownership/permission tests but are under user control, allowing arbitrary code execution with elevated privileges.
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<= 3.3beta20CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
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 Tunnelblick versionOn macOS, open Terminal and run: ls /Applications/ | grep -i tunnelblick to find the app, then right-click Tunnelblick.app > Show Package Contents, and check Contents/Info.plist for CFBundleShortVersionString or CFBundleVersion, or use: defaults read /Applications/Tunnelblick.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleShortVersionStringAffected if The version is 3.3beta20 or earlier (any version <= 3.3beta20)
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Verify Tunnelblick is configured to launch helper toolsCheck if Tunnelblick has any VPN configurations loaded or if it uses the 'launch-at-login' or helper tool features. Look in ~/Library/Application Support/Tunnelblick/ for configuration files (.tblk folders)Affected if Tunnelblick has active VPN configurations and is configured to manage connections, which triggers the vulnerable code path for executing helper tools
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Identify locations where unprivileged users can mount images or control sharesCheck if any non-admin users have privileges to mount disk images: dscl . -read /Users/username SecondaryGroupID or check /etc/auto_master for automount configurations that might allow user-controlled network sharesAffected if Non-admin users can mount disk images (via hdiutil) or have write access to network share mount points that Tunnelblick might check for executable ownership
A user is affected if they are running Tunnelblick version 3.3beta20 or earlier AND have active VPN configurations that trigger the application's helper tool execution with elevated privileges, especially on systems where unprivileged users can mount disk images or control network share locations.
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 Tunnelblick to a version newer than 3.3beta20. Additionally, restrict local users' ability to mount images or control network shares on systems running vulnerable Tunnelblick versions to limit attack surface.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-3484 — 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-2012-3484 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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