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VinoApplication · David King

CVE-2012-4429

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2012-10-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 3.4.2 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
Vino 2.28, 2.32, 3.4.2, and earlier allows remote attackers to read clipboard activity by listening on TCP port 5900.

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 confidence

Vino VNC server versions 2.28, 2.32, 3.4.2 and earlier contains an information disclosure vulnerability where remote attackers can read clipboard activity by listening on TCP port 5900. This allows unauthenticated remote attackers to capture clipboard contents transmitted over the VNC connection.

MitigationRestrict network access to port 5900 via firewall rules or ACLs, disable clipboard sharing in Vino configuration, or upgrade to a patched version if available.

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
VinoApplication
Affected:<= 3.4.2= 0.12= 0.14= 2.7= 2.7.3= 2.7.3.1= 2.7.4= 2.7.90= 2.7.91= 2.7.92= 2.8= 2.8.0

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
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 checks

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

  1. Verify if Vino VNC server is installed
    Check for the vino-server process: ps aux | grep vino or check for package: dpkg -l | grep vino (Debian) or rpm -qa | grep vino (RHEL)
    Affected if Vino server is installed and running on the system
  2. Determine installed Vino version
    Run: vino-server --version or check package version with dpkg -l vino or rpm -qi vino
    Affected if Version matches <= 3.4.2, or equals 0.12, 0.14, 2.7, 2.7.3, 2.7.3.1, 2.7.4, 2.7.90, 2.7.91, 2.7.92, 2.8, 2.8.0, 2.28, or 2.32
  3. Confirm VNC server is listening on port 5900
    Run: netstat -tlnp | grep 5900 or ss -tlnp | grep 5900 to check if VNC service is bound to TCP port 5900
    Affected if VNC server is actively listening on port 5900
  4. Verify clipboard sharing is enabled in Vino configuration
    Check gsettings or dconf for Vino preferences: gsettings get org.gnome.Vino clipboard-sharing or examine ~/.gconf/desktop/gnome/remote-display/clipboard_sharing_key
    Affected if Clipboard sharing is enabled (value is true)

System is affected if Vino VNC server version is one of the vulnerable versions listed AND is running with clipboard sharing enabled and accessible on TCP port 5900.

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 3.4.2
Interim mitigation

Restrict network access to port 5900 via firewall rules or ACLs, disable clipboard sharing in Vino configuration, or upgrade to a patched version if available.

Fix this in Vino Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2012-4429 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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