CVE-2012-5459

Untrusted search path vulnerability in VMware Workstation 8.x before 8.0.5 and VMware Player 4.x before 4.0.5 on Windows allows host OS users to gain host OS privileges via a Trojan horse DLL in a "system folder."

Published: 2012-11-14 Last update: 2026-04-29 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2012-5459 is rated Moderate Risk (43.1/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.14%). 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-2012-5459

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 2026-03-16 0.21% 0.14% -0.08%
2 2025-03-30 0.25% 0.21% -0.04%
3 2025-03-29 — 0.25% —

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2012-5459

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.9 2.0 HIGH
AV:A/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:A)
Requires access to an adjacent network segment.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 5.5 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2012-5459

NVD evaluator notes for CVE-2012-5459

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

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2012-5459

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
vmware player 4.0 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:player:4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware player 4.0.0.18997 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:player:4.0.0.18997:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware player 4.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:player:4.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware player 4.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:player:4.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware player 4.0.3 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:player:4.0.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware player 4.0.4 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:player:4.0.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation 8.0 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation 8.0.0.18997 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation:8.0.0.18997:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation 8.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation:8.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation 8.0.1.27038 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation:8.0.1.27038:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation 8.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation:8.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation 8.0.3 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation:8.0.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation 8.0.4 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation:8.0.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2012-5459

cvelogic Threat Intelligence