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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2012-5476

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-12-30
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click

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
Within the RHOS Essex Preview (2012.2) of the OpenStack dashboard package, the file /etc/quantum/quantum.conf is world readable which exposes the admin password and token value.

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 confidence

The OpenStack Quantum configuration file /etc/quantum/quantum.conf is set with world-readable permissions (644), allowing any local user to read the file and obtain the admin password and authentication token. This exposes sensitive credentials used for administrative operations within the Quantum (Neutron) networking service.

MitigationChange file permissions on /etc/quantum/quantum.conf to restrict read access (e.g., chmod 640 or 600) and ensure only the quantum service user and root can access it, then verify the Quantum service continues to function properly.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0= 9.0= 10.0
HorizonApplication
Affected:= 2012.2

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

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

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate the Quantum configuration file
    Search for quantum.conf in common locations: ls -la /etc/quantum/quantum.conf or find /etc -name quantum.conf 2>/dev/null
    Affected if The file /etc/quantum/quantum.conf exists on the system
  2. Check file permissions on quantum.conf
    Run: ls -la /etc/quantum/quantum.conf and examine the permission bits (first column)
    Affected if Permissions show any permission for 'others' (the last three bits contain 'r--', 'r-w', or 'r-x')
  3. Verify world-readable access
    Run: stat -c '%a' /etc/quantum/quantum.conf to get the octal permissions, or test with: python3 -c 'import os; print(oct(os.stat("/etc/quantum/quantum.conf").st_mode)[-3:])'
    Affected if The last digit of the octal permission is not 0 (e.g., 644, 664, 666)
  4. Confirm other users can read the file
    Run: cat /etc/quantum/quantum.conf as a non-root, non-quantum user (e.g., su -c 'cat /etc/quantum/quantum.conf' someuser)
    Affected if The command successfully reads and displays file contents without permission denied error

If /etc/quantum/quantum.conf exists and has permissions that allow any user besides root and the quantum service user to read it (e.g., 644 or wider), the system is affected by this vulnerability.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Change file permissions on /etc/quantum/quantum.conf to restrict read access (e.g., chmod 640 or 600) and ensure only the quantum service user and root can access it, then verify the Quantum service continues to function properly.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
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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-2012-5476 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
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