CVE-2012-4881
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 · uneditedUntrusted search path vulnerability in moviEZ HD 1.0 Build 2554-29894-A allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse avrt.dll file in the current working directory, as demonstrated by a directory that contains a .mvz file. NOTE: the provenance of this information is unknown; the details are obtained solely from third party information.
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 confidenceThe moviEZ HD application suffers from an untrusted search path vulnerability where it loads the avrt.dll library from the current working directory without validating the path. An attacker can place a malicious avrt.dll in a directory containing a .mvz file; when the application opens the file, it executes the attacker's DLL with the application's privileges, achieving local privilege escalation.
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= 1.0CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
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 moviEZ HD is installedCheck Program Files for 'Sony Moviez HD' or 'moviEZ HD' folder, or look in Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for an entry named 'Sony Moviez HD' or 'moviEZ HD'Affected if The application is installed and the version is 1.0
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Verify the installed version numberCheck the application's About or Help menu, or examine the version attribute of the main executable (typically named moviEZ_HD.exe, MoviezHD.exe, or similar)Affected if Installed version equals 1.0 exactly
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Confirm .mvz file associationCheck file type associations for .mvz extension in Windows Registry under HKCR\.mvz or look for .mvz files on the system and right-click > Properties > Opens withAffected if The application is configured to open .mvz files and is version 1.0
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Test for unsafe DLL loading behaviorPlace a test avrt.dll in a directory with a .mvz file and monitor DLL loading with Process Monitor (procmon.exe) from Sysinternals, filtering by process name of the application and path containing avrt.dllAffected if The application loads avrt.dll from the same directory as the .mvz file rather than from system directories
A user is affected if moviEZ HD version 1.0 is installed and the application loads avrt.dll from the current working directory when opening .mvz files, allowing DLL hijacking.
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 dataImplement secure DLL loading by using absolute paths, enabling Safe DLL Search Mode, and loading DLLs only from trusted system directories. Alternatively, digitally sign all DLLs and verify signatures before loading.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-4881 — 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-2012-4881 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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