CVE-2012-4406

OpenStack Object Storage (swift) before 1.7.0 uses the loads function in the pickle Python module unsafely when storing and loading metadata in memcached, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted pickle object.

Published: 2012-10-22 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2012-4406 is rated High Risk (73.5/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 6.52%, 93th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. EPSS rose +1.81% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize 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-2012-4406

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 4.71% 6.52% +1.81%
2 2026-03-02 5.89% 4.71% -1.18%
3 2026-02-12 — 5.89% —

Full EPSS history (15 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2012-4406

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 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:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
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:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 5.9 [email protected]
7.5 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/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:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 10.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2012-4406

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2012-4406

GHSA-v7mh-3jgf-r26c · Severity: critical · Ecosystem: pip — OpenStack Object Storage (swift) Code Injection vulnerability

OS Trackers for CVE-2012-4406

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2012-4406 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (swift), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2012-4406
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2012-4406
ubuntu low CVE-2012-4406 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (swift), 8 status rows across 8 suites (hardy, lucid, natty, oneiric, precise, quantal, raring, upstream): DNE 2, ignored 2, not-affected 2, released 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2012-4406

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2012-4406

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
openstack swift < 1.7.0 cpe:2.3:a:openstack:swift:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 16 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:16:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat gluster_storage_management_console 2.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:gluster_storage_management_console:2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat gluster_storage_server_for_on-premise 2.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:gluster_storage_server_for_on-premise:2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat storage 2.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:storage:2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat storage_for_public_cloud 2.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:storage_for_public_cloud:2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2012-4406

URL Tags
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2012-October/089472.html Mailing List
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-1379.html Third Party Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-0691.html Not Applicable
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/09/05/16 Mailing List
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/09/05/4 Mailing List
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/55420 Broken Link
https://bugs.launchpad.net/swift/+bug/1006414 Issue Tracking Patch
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=854757 Issue Tracking Patch
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/79140 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://github.com/openstack/swift/commit/e1ff51c04554d51616d2845f92ab726cb0e5831a Patch
https://launchpad.net/swift/+milestone/1.7.0 Release Notes
cvelogic Threat Intelligence