CVE-2012-4884
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 · uneditedArgument injection vulnerability in Request Tracker (RT) 3.8.x before 3.8.15 and 4.0.x before 4.0.8 allows remote attackers to create arbitrary files via unspecified vectors related to the GnuPG client.
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 confidenceRequest Tracker versions 3.8.x before 3.8.15 and 4.0.x before 4.0.8 contain an argument injection vulnerability in the GnuPG client integration. Attackers can craft malicious arguments passed to GnuPG, allowing creation of arbitrary files on the system. This stems from insufficient sanitization of user-supplied input before being passed as arguments to the GnuPG binary.
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= 3.8.0= 3.8.1= 3.8.2= 3.8.3= 3.8.4= 3.8.5= 3.8.6= 3.8.7= 3.8.8= 3.8.9= 3.8.10= 3.8.11CVSS 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
- Partial
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/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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Identify installed Request Tracker versionCheck the RT version file or use the RT command line tool (rt --version) to determine the exact version number installed in your environmentAffected if The installed version is 3.8.0 through 3.8.11, or any 3.8.x version before 3.8.15, or any 4.0.x version before 4.0.8
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Confirm GnuPG integration is enabledInspect the RT configuration file (usually RT_SiteConfig.pm) for GnuPG-related settings such as $GnuPGPath, EnableGnuPG, or GnuPG options. Also check if GnuPG is actively used in any RT Scrips or templatesAffected if GnuPG encryption or signing features are enabled or configured in the RT installation
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Verify GnuPG binary is accessible to RTCheck that the GnuPG binary is installed on the system and accessible to the web server user that runs RT. Look for the gpg or gpg2 binary in the configured pathAffected if GnuPG binaries are present and RT is configured to use them for email encryption or signing operations
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Review recent RT activity logsExamine RT logs for any suspicious GnuPG-related entries that might indicate exploitation attempts, particularly unusual file creation or modification operationsAffected if Log entries show unexpected file creation or argument patterns in GnuPG command executions
Your environment is affected if you run Request Tracker versions 3.8.0-3.8.11 (or any 3.8.x below 3.8.15) or 4.0.x below 4.0.8 AND have GnuPG encryption features enabled and configured.
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 Request Tracker to version 3.8.15, 4.0.8, or later to obtain the patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, consider disabling GnuPG encryption features until the upgrade can be performed.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-4884 — 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-2012-4884 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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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.
- 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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