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WeechatApplication · Flashtux

CVE-2012-5854

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2012-11-19
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
Remotely reachable 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
Heap-based buffer overflow in WeeChat 0.3.6 through 0.3.9 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash or hang) and possibly execute arbitrary code via crafted IRC colors that are not properly decoded.

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 confidence

Heap-based buffer overflow in WeeChat versions 0.3.6-0.3.9 when decoding IRC color codes. Remote attackers can send crafted IRC messages containing malformed color sequences that are not properly bounds-checked during decoding, causing heap corruption that leads to denial of service or potentially arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpgrade WeeChat to version 0.3.10 or later where the color decoding vulnerability is patched. As a workaround, disable the IRC plugin or restrict connections to trusted servers until the upgrade can be applied.

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
WeechatApplication
Affected:= 0.3.6= 0.3.7= 0.3.8= 0.3.9

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/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 checks

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

  1. Check if WeeChat is installed and get its version
    Run `weechat --version` or `weechat -v` to display the version number
    Affected if The version displayed is 0.3.6, 0.3.7, 0.3.8, or 0.3.9
  2. Confirm the IRC plugin is loaded
    In WeeChat, run `/plugin list` or check for irc.so in the plugin list
    Affected if The IRC plugin is loaded and connected to any server
  3. Check for active IRC server connections
    Run `/server list` in WeeChat to list configured IRC servers
    Affected if Connected to servers that are not explicitly trusted
  4. Verify color code handling is not disabled
    Run `/set irc.color.*` to list color-related settings; the vulnerability exists when IRC color handling is enabled (default state)
    Affected if IRC color settings are at default values (not modified to disable color processing)

You are affected if WeeChat version is 0.3.6 through 0.3.9 AND the IRC plugin is loaded with active connections to servers that could send malformed color sequences.

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 WeeChat to version 0.3.10 or later where the color decoding vulnerability is patched. As a workaround, disable the IRC plugin or restrict connections to trusted servers until the upgrade can be applied.

Fix this in Weechat Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2012-5854 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data