CVE-2012-5523
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 · uneditedcore/email_api.php in MantisBT before 1.2.12 does not properly manage the sending of e-mail notifications about restricted bugs, which might allow remote authenticated users to obtain sensitive information by adding a note to a bug before losing permission to view that bug.
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 confidenceThe email notification system in MantisBT before 1.2.12 (core/email_api.php) does not properly manage sending e-mail notifications about restricted bugs. When a user adds a note to a bug and then loses permission to view that bug, they may still receive email notifications containing sensitive information about the restricted bug.
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<= 1.2.11= 0.18.0= 0.19.0= 0.19.1= 0.19.2= 0.19.3= 0.19.4= 0.19.5= 1.0.0= 1.0.1= 1.0.2= 1.0.3CVSS 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
- Single
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/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 MantisBT versionCheck the version file or look for version information in the MantisBT installation. Common locations include a version.php file in the root directory or the admin/check.php page.Affected if The installed version is 1.2.11 or lower, or matches one of these specific versions: 0.18.0, 0.19.0, 0.19.1, 0.19.2, 0.19.3, 0.19.4, 0.19.5, 1.0.0, 1.0.1, 1.0.2, or 1.0.3.
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Verify email notifications are enabledCheck the MantisBT configuration file (config_inc.php) for $g_enable_email_notification = ON; or check the administration settings for email notification preferences.Affected if Email notifications are enabled in the MantisBT configuration.
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Confirm core/email_api.php existsLocate the file core/email_api.php in the MantisBT installation directory and note its last modification date.Affected if The file exists and corresponds to a version listed in the affected versions range.
A user is affected if they run MantisBT version 1.2.11 or lower (or one of the specific affected versions 0.18.0 through 1.0.3) with email notifications enabled.
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 to MantisBT 1.2.12 or later which implements proper email notification controls for restricted bugs when user permissions change.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-5523 — 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-2012-5523 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data