CVE-2012-3405

The vfprintf function in stdio-common/vfprintf.c in libc in GNU C Library (aka glibc) 2.14 and other versions does not properly calculate a buffer length, which allows context-dependent attackers to bypass the FORTIFY_SOURCE format-string protection mechanism and cause a denial of service (segmentation fault and crash) via a format string with a large number of format specifiers that triggers "desynchronization within the buffer size handling," a different vulnerability than CVE-2012-3404.

Published: 2014-02-10 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2012-3405 is rated Moderate Risk (49.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.09%). EPSS rose +1.42% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2012-3405

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 2026-06-15 0.67% 2.09% +1.42%
2 2025-05-09 0.78% 0.67% -0.11%
3 2025-03-30 — 0.78% —

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2012-3405

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2012-3405

OS Trackers for CVE-2012-3405

vendor priority summary link
debian low CVE-2012-3405 low priority: Debian including 1 source packages (glibc), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2012-3405
gentoo normal CVE-2012-3405: 1 GLSA(s) (201503-04), 1 atom(s) (sys-libs/glibc); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2012-3405
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2012-3405
ubuntu medium CVE-2012-3405 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (eglibc, glibc), 12 status rows across 6 suites (hardy, lucid, natty, oneiric, precise, upstream): DNE 5, released 3, needs-triage 2, not-affected 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2012-3405

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2012-3405

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu glibc 2.14 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:glibc:2.14:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_virtualization 3.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:enterprise_virtualization:3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 8.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:8.04:-:lts:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 10.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:10.04:-:lts:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 11.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:11.04:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 11.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:11.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:-:lts:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2012-3405

cvelogic Threat Intelligence