CVE-2012-4527

Stack-based buffer overflow in mcrypt 2.6.8 and earlier allows user-assisted remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a long file name. NOTE: it is not clear whether this is a vulnerability.

Published: 2012-11-21 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2012-4527 is rated Moderate Risk (55/100): CVSS Medium severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 7.68%, 94th percentile). Core evidence: EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. Mandatory action: 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-2012-4527

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 28.10% 7.68% -20.42%
2 2025-03-30 45.04% 28.10% -16.94%
3 2025-03-29 45.04%

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2012-4527

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/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: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:P)
Partial availability impact.
8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2012-4527

OS Trackers for CVE-2012-4527

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2012-4527 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (mcrypt), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2012-4527
gentoo normal CVE-2012-4527: 1 GLSA(s) (201405-19), 1 atom(s) (app-crypt/mcrypt); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2012-4527
ubuntu medium CVE-2012-4527 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (mcrypt), 19 status rows across 19 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, hardy, lucid, natty, oneiric, precise, quantal, raring, saucy, trusty, upstream, utopic, vivid, wily, xenial, yakkety, zesty): ignored 14, not-affected 3, DNE 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2012-4527

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2012-4527

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
mcrypt mcrypt <= 2.6.8 cpe:2.3:a:mcrypt:mcrypt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mcrypt mcrypt 2.6.4 cpe:2.3:a:mcrypt:mcrypt:2.6.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mcrypt mcrypt 2.6.5 cpe:2.3:a:mcrypt:mcrypt:2.6.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mcrypt mcrypt 2.6.6 cpe:2.3:a:mcrypt:mcrypt:2.6.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mcrypt mcrypt 2.6.7 cpe:2.3:a:mcrypt:mcrypt:2.6.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2012-4527

cvelogic Threat Intelligence