CVE-2012-4581
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 · uneditedMcAfee Email and Web Security (EWS) 5.x before 5.5 Patch 6 and 5.6 before Patch 3, and McAfee Email Gateway (MEG) 7.0 before Patch 1, does not disable the server-side session token upon the closing of the Management Console/Dashboard, which makes it easier for remote attackers to hijack sessions by capturing a session cookie and then modifying the response to a login attempt, related to a "Logout Failure" issue.
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 confidenceMcAfee Email and Web Security (EWS) 5.x before 5.5 Patch 6 and 5.6 before Patch 3, and McAfee Email Gateway (MEG) 7.0 before Patch 1, fail to invalidate server-side session tokens when the Management Console/Dashboard is closed. This session fixation/hijacking vulnerability allows attackers who capture a valid session cookie to reuse it for unauthorized access, related to a logout failure.
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= 5.0= 5.5= 5.6= 7.0CVSS 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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Identify if McAfee Email and Web Security or Email Gateway is installedLook for the product in installed programs or check for common installation paths such as C:\Program Files\McAfee\Email and Web Security or C:\Program Files\McAfee\Email Gateway. On Linux, check /opt/mcafee/ews or /opt/mcafee/emailgateway.Affected if Either McAfee Email and Web Security or McAfee Email Gateway is installed
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Determine the installed version of McAfee EWS or MEGCheck the version by inspecting the product itself - look in the About section of the Management Console, or check registry keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\McAfee\Email and Web Security or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\McAfee\Email Gateway on Windows. On Linux, check the RPM package with rpm -qi mfeemailgateway or similar.Affected if Version is 5.0, 5.5, or 5.6 for EWS, or 7.0 for MEG, and patches have not been applied
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Verify the Management Console is accessibleConfirm the management console web interface is reachable by accessing it via HTTPS or HTTP on the typical ports (usually 10443 or 8443 for EWS, 443 for MEG). Check if remote access to the console is enabled.Affected if The Management Console is exposed and accessible
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Check session timeout configurationReview session timeout settings in the management console configuration or in the underlying configuration files. Look for session.maxTimeout or similar session management parameters.Affected if Session timeouts are excessively long or not configured, allowing captured tokens to remain valid for extended periods
The environment is affected if McAfee Email and Web Security versions 5.0, 5.5, or 5.6, or McAfee Email Gateway version 7.0 is installed with the management console accessible and no vendor patches applied.
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 dataApply vendor patches (MEG 7.0 Patch 1, EWS 5.5 Patch 6, EWS 5.6 Patch 3) to ensure session tokens are properly invalidated on logout. Consider implementing aggressive session timeouts as defense-in-depth.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-4581 — 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-2012-4581 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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