CVE-2012-5518
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 · uneditedvdsm: certificate generation upon node creation allowing vdsm to start and serve requests from anyone who has a matching key (and 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 · moderate confidenceVDSM (Virtual Disk Server Manager) contains a vulnerability where certificate generation during node creation allows the service to accept and serve requests from anyone possessing a matching key and certificate. This represents an authentication bypass where certificate-based identity verification is improperly validated, potentially allowing unauthorized control of the virtualization infrastructure.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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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Check if VDSM/Ovirt is installedRun command: rpm -qa | grep -i vdsm or dpkg -l | grep -i vdsm depending on package manager. Also check if the vdsmd service exists: systemctl list-unit-files | grep vdsmAffected if VDSM/Ovirt is present on the system and all versions are affected per vendor advisory
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Identify the installed VDSM versionRun: rpm -qi vdsm or check /usr/share/vdsm/VERSION if it exists. Compare against Ovirt VDSM release notes for version determinationAffected if Any installed version of Ovirt VDSM is affected since the vulnerability spans all versions
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Examine VDSM certificate configurationCheck for certificate-related configuration files in /etc/vdsm/ and /etc/pki/vdsm/. Look for files like vdsm.conf, mom.conf, and certificates under /etc/pki/vdsm/ directoryAffected if Certificate-based authentication is configured and in use, which is the default deployment mode for VDSM nodes
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Verify if certificate chain-of-trust validation is enforcedReview VDSM configuration files for certificate validation settings. Check /etc/vdsm/vdsm.conf for parameters related to certificate verification (such as ssl: true configuration). Inspect startup scripts or systemd service files for certificate validation flagsAffected if SSL/TLS is enabled for VDSM communication without proper certificate chain validation, which is the vulnerable condition described in the CVE
If Ovirt VDSM is installed with SSL/certificate-based authentication enabled, the environment is affected since all versions contain the certificate validation flaw that allows authentication bypass with any matching key and certificate.
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 dataRegenerate all node certificates with proper validation and implement strict certificate chain-of-trust verification to ensure only legitimately provisioned nodes can authenticate to vdsm.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-5518 — 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-2012-5518 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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