CVE-2012-4671
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 · uneditedpsyced before 20120821 does not verify that a request was made for an XMPP Server Dialback response, which allows remote XMPP servers to spoof domains via responses for domains that were not asserted.
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 confidencepsyced before version 20120821 fails to validate that an XMPP Server Dialback response corresponds to an actual prior request, enabling remote XMPP servers to impersonate domains by sending fraudulent dialback responses for domains they do not legitimately control.
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<= 20111122= 20081120= 20090323= 20090617CVSS 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
- None
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm psyced is installedCheck for the psyced executable in common locations such as /usr/local/bin/psyced, /usr/bin/psyced, or via 'which psyced' and 'ps aux | grep psyced' to find running processesAffected if psyced is found running on the system
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Identify the installed psyced versionRun 'psyced --version' or check the binary/build information. The version is also often visible in the server banner upon connecting to the XMPP port (typically 5222). Compare this version against the affected ranges: any version <= 20111122, or exactly 20081120, 20090323, or 20090617Affected if The installed version is one of the affected versions listed above
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Verify Server Dialback is enabledExamine the psyced configuration file (commonly ~/.psyced/default.psyc or /etc/psyced.conf) for the presence of the Server Dialback module or directive. In XMPP, Server Dialback is used for server-to-server (s2s) communication. Check for configuration entries related to 'dialback', 's2s', or 'server to server'Affected if Server Dialback is enabled in the configuration and the server accepts incoming s2s connections
The environment is affected if psyced is running with an affected version (20111122 or earlier, or exactly 20081120/20090323/20090617) AND Server Dialback is enabled for XMPP server-to-server communication.
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 psyced to version 20120821 or later, which implements proper verification of dialback request-response pairing.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-4671 — 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-2012-4671 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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