CVE-2012-5381

Exp

Untrusted search path vulnerability in the installation functionality in PHP 5.3.17, when installed in the top-level C:\ directory, might allow local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse DLL in the C:\PHP directory, which may be added to the PATH system environment variable by an administrator, as demonstrated by a Trojan horse wlbsctrl.dll file used by the "IKE and AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules" system service in Windows Vista SP1, Windows Server 2008 SP2, Windows 7 SP1, and Windows 8 Release Preview. NOTE: CVE disputes this issue because the unsafe PATH is established only by a separate administrative action that is not a default part of the PHP installation

Published: 2012-10-11 Last update: 2026-04-29 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2012-5381 is rated High Exploit Risk (60/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.40%). 2 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). 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-2012-5381

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
28130 exploit_db edb 2013-09-06 Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2012-5381

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 2025-12-28 0.45% 0.40% -0.05%
2 2025-12-27 0.40% 0.45% +0.05%
3 2025-10-28 — 0.40% —

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2012-5381

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:H/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:H)
Exploitation requires uncommon or highly specific conditions.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 1.5 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2012-5381

OS Trackers for CVE-2012-5381

vendor priority summary link
ubuntu medium CVE-2012-5381 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (php5), 6 status rows across 6 suites (hardy, lucid, natty, oneiric, precise, upstream): not-affected 5, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2012-5381

NVD evaluator notes for CVE-2012-5381

Comment: Per: http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/426.html 'CWE-426 Untrusted Search Path'

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2012-5381

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
php php 5.3.17 cpe:2.3:a:php:php:5.3.17:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2012-5381

cvelogic Threat Intelligence