CVE-2012-4678
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 · uneditedmunin-cgi-graph for Munin 2.0 rc4 does not delete temporary files, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (disk consumption) via many requests to an image with unique parameters.
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 confidenceThe munin-cgi-graph component in Munin 2.0 rc4 fails to delete temporary files it creates during graph image generation. By requesting images with unique parameters (causing unique temp filenames), an attacker can accumulate unreferenced temp files on disk until storage is exhausted, causing denial of service.
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= 2.0_rc4CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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 Munin installation and versionRun 'munin --version' or check the package manager for munin version (e.g., dpkg -l | grep munin, rpm -qa | grep munin)Affected if The installed version is 2.0_rc4 specifically, or if the version cannot be determined but munin-cgi-graph is in use on a 2.x release
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Verify munin-cgi-graph component is enabledCheck the Munin configuration for cgi-graph settings; look for 'graph_strategy cgi' in /etc/munin/munin.conf or check for munin-cgi-graph binary in /usr/lib/cgi-bin/ or similar cgi directoriesAffected if cgi-based graph generation is enabled (graph_strategy set to 'cgi' or 'cron')
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Locate temporary file directory used by munin-cgi-graphCheck Munin CGI configuration files for temp file paths; examine /etc/munin/cgi* config files or search for 'tmpdir' or 'tmp' settings in the Munin CGI configurationAffected if A temp directory is configured and writable by the web server user running munin-cgi-graph
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Scan for orphaned temp files from graph generationList files in the identified temp directory; look for files matching patterns like *.png, *.tmp, or munin-graph-* that are not referenced in any active munin HTML outputAffected if Large numbers of unreferenced PNG or temp files exist in the temp directory that are not cleaned up after graph generation
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Check for cron-based cleanup of temp filesExamine /etc/cron.d/munin or /etc/cron.daily/munin for cleanup scripts; look for any cron job that removes stale files from the munin cgi temp directoryAffected if No cron-based cleanup mechanism exists to remove old temp files from the munin-cgi-graph directory
You are affected if running Munin 2.0_rc4 with munin-cgi-graph enabled and you find accumulated orphaned temporary files in the graph generation temp directory.
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 to a patched Munin version that properly cleans up temporary files after graph generation, or implement a cron-based cleanup job to remove stale temp files as a temporary workaround.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-4678 — 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-2012-4678 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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