CVE-2012-5571 | Openstack keystone: openstack keystone: authorization bypass via improper ec2 token handling

A flaw was found in OpenStack Keystone. This vulnerability allows remote authenticated users to bypass intended authorization restrictions. This occurs because OpenStack Keystone does not properly handle EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) tokens when a user's role has been removed from a tenant. An attacker can leverage a token associated with a removed user role to gain unauthorized access.

Published: 2012-12-17 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2012-5571 is rated Moderate Risk (50.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.04%). EPSS rose +1.80% 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-2012-5571

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 0.24% 2.04% +1.80%
2 2025-12-04 0.32% 0.24% -0.09%
3 2025-04-03 — 0.32% —

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2012-5571

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.4 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N 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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 2.5 [email protected]
3.5 2.0 LOW
AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:N/I:P/A:N 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:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 6.8 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2012-5571

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2012-5571

GHSA-qvpr-qm6w-6rcc · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: pip — OpenStack Keystone intended authorization restrictions bypass

OS Trackers for CVE-2012-5571

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2012-5571 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (keystone), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2012-5571
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2012-5571
suse medium — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2012-5571/
ubuntu medium CVE-2012-5571 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (keystone), 6 status rows across 6 suites (hardy, lucid, oneiric, precise, quantal, upstream): DNE 2, released 2, ignored 1, pending 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2012-5571

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2012-5571

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
openstack essex 2012.1 cpe:2.3:a:openstack:essex:2012.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
openstack folsom 2012.2 cpe:2.3:a:openstack:folsom:2012.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2012-5571

URL Tags
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2012-December/094286.html
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-1556.html
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-1557.html
http://secunia.com/advisories/51423 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/51436 Vendor Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/11/28/5 Patch
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/11/28/6 Patch
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/56726
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1641-1
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2012-5571
https://bugs.launchpad.net/keystone/+bug/1064914 Patch
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/80333
https://github.com/openstack/keystone/commit/37308dd4f3e33f7bd0f71d83fd51734d1870713b Patch
https://github.com/openstack/keystone/commit/8735009dc5b895db265a1cd573f39f4acfca2a19 Patch
https://github.com/openstack/keystone/commit/9d68b40cb9ea818c48152e6c712ff41586ad9653 Patch
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