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FreeipaApplication · Redhat

CVE-2012-5484

HIGH · 7.9 CVSS v2.0 Published 2013-01-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges 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
The client in FreeIPA 2.x and 3.x before 3.1.2 does not properly obtain the Certification Authority (CA) certificate from the server, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to spoof a join procedure via a crafted certificate.

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 FreeIPA client before version 3.1.2 fails to properly validate the CA certificate during the join procedure, allowing man-in-the-middle attackers to inject crafted certificates and spoof the IPA server during client enrollment.

MitigationUpgrade FreeIPA client to version 3.1.2 or later which implements proper CA certificate validation. For systems that cannot be upgraded immediately, ensure join operations occur only over trusted networks or implement out-of-band certificate fingerprint verification.

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
FreeipaApplication
Affected:= 2.0.0= 2.0.1= 2.1.0= 2.1.1= 2.1.3= 2.1.4= 2.2.1= 3.0.0= 3.0.1= 3.0.2= 3.1.1

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
Adjacent
Complexity
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:A/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 checks

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

  1. Check installed FreeIPA client version
    Run 'rpm -q freeipa-client' or 'ipa --version' to determine the installed FreeIPA client package version
    Affected if The version matches any of the following: 2.0.0, 2.0.1, 2.1.0, 2.1.1, 2.1.3, 2.1.4, 2.2.1, 3.0.0, 3.0.1, 3.0.2, or 3.1.1
  2. Verify client enrollment status
    Check if the host is already enrolled with the IPA server by running 'ipa host-show $(hostname)' or looking for /etc/ipa/default.conf configuration
    Affected if The client is being enrolled for the first time or is being re-enrolled with an affected version
  3. Check for active or recent join operations
    Review system logs in /var/log/ipa* or run 'ipa-join' to see if a join is in progress or has been attempted recently
    Affected if A join operation has been performed or is pending with an affected client version

A system is affected if it runs a FreeIPA client version 3.1.1 or earlier and is currently performing or will perform a join/enrollment operation to the IPA server.

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

Upgrade FreeIPA client to version 3.1.2 or later which implements proper CA certificate validation. For systems that cannot be upgraded immediately, ensure join operations occur only over trusted networks or implement out-of-band certificate fingerprint verification.

Fix this in Freeipa Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
32.0 hours of engineering $5,580
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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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-2012-5484 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
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