CVE-2012-0955 | software-properties incorrectly validated TLS certificates

Exp

software-properties was vulnerable to a person-in-the-middle attack due to incorrect TLS certificate validation in softwareproperties/ppa.py. software-properties didn't check TLS certificates under python2 and only checked certificates under python3 if a valid certificate bundle was provided. Fixed in software-properties version 0.92.

Published: 2020-12-02 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2012-0955 is rated Exploit Available (52/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.12%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2012-0955

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2012-0955

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-03-30 0.24% 0.12% -0.11%
2 2025-03-29 0.12% 0.24% +0.11%
3 2025-03-17 0.12%

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2012-0955

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.8 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
1.6 5.2 [email protected]
7.4 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.2 5.2 [email protected]
5.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
8.6 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2012-0955

OS Trackers for CVE-2012-0955

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2012-0955 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (software-properties), 3 status rows across 3 suites (bookworm, bullseye, sid): resolved 3. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2012-0955
ubuntu medium CVE-2012-0955 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (software-properties), 5 status rows across 5 suites (lucid, precise, quantal, raring, upstream): not-affected 3, ignored 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2012-0955

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2012-0955

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
canonical software-properties < 0.92 cpe:2.3:a:canonical:software-properties:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2012-0955

cvelogic Threat Intelligence