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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 18 Apr 2022.
JreApplication · Oracle

CVE-2012-5076

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2012-10-16
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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
Unspecified vulnerability in the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) component in Oracle Java SE 7 Update 7 and earlier allows remote attackers to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability, related to JAX-WS.

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 critical remote code execution vulnerability in the Java Runtime Environment's JAX-WS (Java API for XML-Based Web Services) component affecting Java SE 7 Update 7 and earlier. The unspecified flaw allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted XML web service requests, impacting confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

MitigationUpdate Oracle Java SE to version 7 Update 9 or later, or migrate to a supported Java version. If immediate patching is not feasible, disable or restrict JAX-WS functionality and block external XML-based web service traffic at the network perimeter.

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
JreApplication
Affected:= 1.7.0
Linux Enterprise DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 11

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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. Check installed Java SE version
    Run 'java -version' or 'java -fullversion' from the command line to identify the exact Java version installed. On Windows, also check via Control Panel > Programs > Java > About. For packaged distributions, check via package manager (rpm -q java or dpkg -l openjdk).
    Affected if The version is 1.7.0 (Java 7) Update 7 or earlier, or the version string shows 1.7.0_u07 or lower.
  2. Confirm JAX-WS module is present
    Check if the jaxws.jar or jaxws-api.jar files exist in the Java runtime lib directory (typically $JAVA_HOME/lib or $JRE_HOME/lib). On Linux, common paths are /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-openjdk/jre/lib/ or /usr/java/jre/lib/.
    Affected if The JAX-WS libraries (jaxws.jar, jaxws-api.jar) are present in the Java runtime directory.
  3. Identify if application uses JAX-WS endpoints
    Search application directories and WAR/EAR files for JAX-WS annotations (@WebService, @WebMethod) in Java source or compiled classes. Check web.xml for JAX-WS servlet configurations (com.sun.xml.ws.transport.http.servlet.WSServlet). Also review any wsdl files that may indicate JAX-WS service exposure.
    Affected if The application contains Java code with JAX-WS annotations or web.xml references JAX-WS servlets, indicating web service endpoints are exposed.
  4. Verify network exposure of web services
    Review firewall rules, reverse proxies, or load balancer configurations to determine if HTTP/HTTPS ports used for JAX-WS services (typically ports 8080, 8443, or custom application ports) are accessible from external networks.
    Affected if Ports serving XML-based web service endpoints are externally accessible without network filtering.

Your environment is affected if you run Java SE 7 Update 7 or earlier with JAX-WS libraries and have externally accessible XML web service endpoints configured.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch www.oracle.com →
Interim mitigation

Update Oracle Java SE to version 7 Update 9 or later, or migrate to a supported Java version. If immediate patching is not feasible, disable or restrict JAX-WS functionality and block external XML-based web service traffic at the network perimeter.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Java 7 Update 9 or later (or migrate to Java 8 which received backported security fixes)

  1. Check the currently installed Java version by running: java -version
  2. For Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems: Run 'yum update java-1.7.0-openjdk' or 'yum update java-1.7.0-oracle' to apply security updates
  3. For OpenSUSE systems: Run 'zypper update java-1_7_0-openjdk' to install patched packages
  4. Verify the updated Java version by running: java -version
  5. Ensure the updated Java runtime is set as the default: update-alternatives --config java (on RHEL) or use 'alternatives --set java /path/to/new/java'
  6. Restart any running applications or services that use Java to ensure they use the patched version
Caveat Minor - some legacy applications may experience compatibility issues with newer Java versions; thoroughly test applications after upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Jre Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,540
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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-2012-5076 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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data