Data Protection AdvisorApplication · Emc

CVE-2012-4616

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2012-12-26
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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
Directory traversal vulnerability in the Web UI in EMC Data Protection Advisor (DPA) 5.6 through SP1, 5.7 through SP1, and 5.8 through SP4 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via unspecified vectors.

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

A directory traversal vulnerability in the Web UI of EMC Data Protection Advisor versions 5.6 through SP1, 5.7 through SP1, and 5.8 through SP4 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files on the host system by using traversal sequences (e.g., ../../../') in web request parameters.

MitigationApply the EMC security patch for CVE-2012-4616; as interim measures, restrict network access to the DPA Web UI to trusted IPs and implement web application firewall rules to block directory traversal patterns in HTTP requests.

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
Data Protection AdvisorApplication
Affected:= 5.6= 5.7= 5.8

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 EMC Data Protection Advisor is installed
    Check for DPA installation directory or service. Common paths include C:\Program Files\EMC\Data Protection Advisor or /opt/emc/dpa. On Windows, check Services for 'EMC Data Protection Advisor' service.
    Affected if DPA software is not present on the system, the vulnerability does not apply.
  2. Determine installed DPA version
    Locate the DPA version information. On Windows, check the Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\EMC\Data Protection Advisor\CurrentVersion for the Version value, or check the About section in the DPA UI. On Linux, check /opt/emc/dpa/version or similar.
    Affected if Installed version falls within 5.6 through 5.6 SP1, 5.7 through 5.7 SP1, or 5.8 through 5.8 SP4. Versions outside these ranges or later patched versions are not affected.
  3. Confirm Web UI component is enabled
    Check if the DPA Web UI service is running and accessible. Verify the DPA Web Server service status and that port 9002 or configured HTTP port is listening. Consult DPA administration documentation for your version to confirm Web UI configuration.
    Affected if Web UI must be enabled and network-accessible for an attacker to exploit the directory traversal flaw.
  4. Inspect web server logs for traversal patterns
    Review DPA web server access and error logs for requests containing '../' sequences. Common log locations may be in the DPA installation logs directory or configured logging path. Search for patterns like '..%2F' or '../../../' in HTTP request parameters.
    Affected if Presence of directory traversal requests in logs indicates attempted exploitation, but absence does not guarantee the system is not vulnerable.

A system is affected if EMC Data Protection Advisor versions 5.6 through SP1, 5.7 through SP1, or 5.8 through SP4 are installed with the Web UI component enabled and accessible.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the EMC security patch for CVE-2012-4616; as interim measures, restrict network access to the DPA Web UI to trusted IPs and implement web application firewall rules to block directory traversal patterns in HTTP requests.

Fix this in Data Protection Advisor Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
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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-2012-4616 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
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