CVE-2012-5581
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 · uneditedStack-based buffer overflow in tif_dir.c in LibTIFF before 4.0.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted DOTRANGE tag in a TIFF image.
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 confidenceStack-based buffer overflow in tif_dir.c in LibTIFF before 4.0.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted DOTRANGE tag in a TIFF image.
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<= 4.0.1= 3.4= 3.5.1= 3.5.2= 3.5.3= 3.5.4= 3.5.5= 3.5.6= 3.5.7= 3.6.0= 3.6.1= 3.7.0CVSS 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
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
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 installed LibTIFF library versionRun 'tiffinfo -version' or 'tiffdump -version' if available, or check the library file with 'strings libtiff.so | grep -i version' or examine the libtiff header file (tiff.h) for the TIFFLIB_VERSION constantAffected if The version is 4.0.1 or earlier, or matches any of these: 3.4, 3.5.1, 3.5.2, 3.5.3, 3.5.4, 3.5.5, 3.5.6, 3.5.7, 3.6.0, 3.6.1, 3.7.0
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Identify applications using LibTIFF to process TIFF filesReview running processes or application logs that load libtiff (check with 'ldd <executable>' or 'lsof | grep tiff') and examine how they handle TIFF inputAffected if Any application loads libtiff and processes untrusted TIFF images, especially those that parse the DOTRANGE tag
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Verify TIFF processing handles DOTRANGE tagsInspect any custom code that calls TIFFReadDirectory or tag parsing routines in tif_dir.c; use 'strings' on the libtiff library to confirm DOTRANGE support existsAffected if The TIFF processing code reads DOTRANGE tags from potentially untrusted TIFF files without validation
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Check for tif_dir.c in source code if compiling custom LibTIFFIf LibTIFF is built from source, locate tif_dir.c and check its version or patch status; look for the DOTRANGE handling code sectionAffected if The source file tif_dir.c is present from an unpatched version and the code handles DOTRANGE tags
The environment is affected if LibTIFF version is 4.0.1 or earlier (or one of the specific 3.x versions listed) AND the system processes TIFF files that could contain DOTRANGE tags.
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 LibTIFF 4.0.2 or later to patch the vulnerability. Validate all TIFF input before processing to mitigate risk until the library is updated.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-5581 — 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-2012-5581 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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- 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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