NexposeApplication · Rapid7

CVE-2012-6494

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-01-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.5.4 or later.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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
Rapid7 Nexpose before 5.5.4 contains a session hijacking vulnerability which allows remote attackers to capture a user's session and gain unauthorized access.

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

Rapid7 Nexpose before version 5.5.4 contains a session hijacking vulnerability that allows remote attackers to capture valid user sessions, enabling unauthorized access to the application with the privileges of the compromised session.

MitigationUpgrade Rapid7 Nexpose to version 5.5.4 or later to obtain the session management security fixes.

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
NexposeApplication
Affected:< 5.5.4

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/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 checks

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

  1. Determine the installed Nexpose version
    Use the nexpose-cli or nexpose-console tool with a version command, or check the product information in the web interface under Help > About. On Linux systems, you may also run 'nexposectl version' or check /opt/rapid7/nexpose/nsc/nsc-version.xml if installed in the default location.
    Affected if The displayed version number is less than 5.5.4 (for example, 5.5.0, 5.4.x, or earlier)
  2. Verify the exact version number
    Confirm the full version string including any patch numbers. Check the installation directory for version files, or run 'nexposectl -v' from the command line if available.
    Affected if The version shown is < 5.5.4 (such as 5.5.3, 5.5.2, 5.5.1, or any 5.x.x version below 5.5.4)
  3. Confirm Nexpose is running
    Check if the Nexpose service is active by using system commands like 'service nexpose status' or checking the process list for nexpose-related processes.
    Affected if Nexpose is running and the version is below 5.5.4 - the session hijacking flaw only applies when the vulnerable software is active

If the installed Rapid7 Nexpose version is any release prior to 5.5.4, the environment is affected by this session hijacking vulnerability.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.5.4 or later
Fixed in 5.5.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Rapid7 Nexpose to version 5.5.4 or later to obtain the session management security fixes.

Fix this in Nexpose Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-6494 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2012-6494 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