The cap_bprm_set_creds function in security/commoncap.c in the Linux kernel before 3.3.3 does not properly handle the use of file system capabilities (aka fcaps) for implementing a privileged executable file, which allows local users to bypass intended personality restrictions via a crafted application, as demonstrated by an attack that uses a parent process to disable ASLR.
CVE-2012-2123
This CVE was only ever scored under CVSS v2.0. NVD CVSS v2.0 base 7.2 — v2 rates that HIGH (v2 bands: LOW 0.0–3.9 / MEDIUM 4.0–6.9 / HIGH 7.0–10.0; v2 has no CRITICAL band). Vector AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C. CVSS v2 is an older, coarser metric than v3.1/v4.0 (no Scope, no User Interaction, no Attack Requirements), so it is not directly comparable to a v3 or v4 score. NVD has never re-scored this record under v3. EPSS predicts 0.4% exploitation probability in the next 30 days, which is reflected in EG Risk but does not lift the v2 base. Confidence: LOW.
- High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v2.0 (legacy)
- 7.2HIGHNVD never assigned a CVSS v3 rating to this CVE
- EG Score
- 7.2(low)
- EG Risk
- 37(Track)EG Risk 37/100SSVC: Track
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computedSeverity72% × 45%Exploitation0% × 40%Automatability30% × 15%Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence. - EPSS PROB
- 0%
- EPSS %ILE
- 35%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
May 17, 2012
Last Modified
April 29, 2026
References (22)
- secalert@redhathttp://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=d52fc5dde171f030170a6cb78034d166b13c9445
- secalert@redhathttp://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-0670.html
- secalert@redhathttp://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-0743.html
- secalert@redhathttp://www.debian.org/security/2012/dsa-2469
- secalert@redhathttp://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/ChangeLog-3.3.3
- secalert@redhathttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/04/20/6
- secalert@redhathttp://www.securityfocus.com/bid/53166
- secalert@redhathttp://www.securitytracker.com/id?1027072
- secalert@redhathttps://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=806722
- secalert@redhathttps://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/75043
- secalert@redhathttps://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/d52fc5dde171f030170a6cb78034d166b13c9445
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=d52fc5dde171f030170a6cb78034d166b13c9445
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-0670.html
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-0743.html
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://www.debian.org/security/2012/dsa-2469
Vendor Advisories for CVE-2012-2123(1)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
Patch Availability(12)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fixed in / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ubuntu | linux-image-3.2.0-1413-omap4 (3.2.0-1413.17) @ precise | 2026-05-29 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-2.6.32-345-ec2 (2.6.32-345.48) @ lucid | 2026-05-29 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-3.0.0-20-virtual (3.0.0-20.34~lucid1) @ lucid | 2026-05-29 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-2.6.38-15-powerpc-smp (2.6.38-15.60) @ natty | 2026-05-29 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-2.6.38-1209-omap4 (2.6.38-1209.25) @ natty | 2026-05-29 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-2.6.32-41-lpia (2.6.32-41.89) @ lucid | 2026-05-29 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-2.6.38-15-server (2.6.38-15.60~lucid1) @ lucid | 2026-05-29 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-3.0.0-20-virtual (3.0.0-20.34) @ oneiric | 2026-05-29 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-3.2.0-24-powerpc-smp (3.2.0-24.38) @ precise | 2026-05-29 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-3.0.0-1210-omap4 (3.0.0-1210.22) @ oneiric | 2026-05-29 | ubuntu |
| redhat | kernel-0:2.6.32-220.23.1.el6 | 2012-06-18 | redhat |
| redhat | kernel-rt-0:3.0.30-rt50.62.el6rt | 2012-05-15 | redhat |
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
Affected Packages
(1 across 1 ecosystem)
Debian:6.0(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux-2.6 | 2.6.32-30 ... 2.6.32-43 (22 versions) | 2.6.32-44 | — |
Additional Vendor Advisories
(11)
Vendors that published advisories for this CVE beyond the curated set above. Broader coverage but minimal per-row detail — click through for the original advisory.
- Red HatRHSA-2012:0670IMPORTANT2012-04-17
RHSA-2012:0670 — Important
- UbuntuUSN-1445-1MEDIUM
Linux kernel vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-1448-1MEDIUM
Linux kernel vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-1452-1MEDIUM
Linux kernel vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-1453-1MEDIUM
Linux kernel (EC2) vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-1455-1MEDIUM
Linux kernel (Oneiric backport) vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-1457-1MEDIUM
Linux kernel vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-1459-1MEDIUM
Linux kernel (OMAP4) vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-1460-1MEDIUM
Linux kernel (OMAP4) vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-1470-1MEDIUM
Linux kernel (Natty backport) vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-1530-1MEDIUM
Linux kernel (OMAP4) vulnerabilities
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 4× in last 7d / 16× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 121 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-08-21 23:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-19 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-18 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-16 02:09 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-15 01:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-09 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-08 16:31 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-07 16:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-06 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-05 19:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-04 15:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-30 01:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-28 15:31 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-26 13:45 UTCEG score recompute▲ 7.20
- 2026-07-25 14:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 01:07 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-23 00:10 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 21:49 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-22 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 15:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-20 17:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-20 17:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 14:27 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-19 02:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-18 10:00 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-16 16:58 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-15 16:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 22:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 06:08 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-11 08:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-09 19:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-08 15:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-08 15:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 16:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 02:19 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 02:19 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-05 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-04 06:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-02 14:01 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-01 15:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 23:19 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 23:19 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 04:53 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 04:53 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-27 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-27 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-22 14:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-22 14:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 14:53 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-19 19:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-19 19:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-18 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-18 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-17 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-17 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-16 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-16 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-15 17:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-14 23:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-14 23:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-13 22:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-12 23:08 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-11 13:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 22:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 13:18 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-08 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-08 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-05 22:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-05 22:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-05 06:08 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-05 06:08 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-04 13:09 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-02 20:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-02 20:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-31 22:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-31 22:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-31 00:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-31 00:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-29 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-29 04:33 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-05-29 04:33 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-05-29 04:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
Frequently asked(4)
What is CVE-2012-2123?
When was CVE-2012-2123 disclosed?
Is CVE-2012-2123 actively exploited?
How do I remediate CVE-2012-2123?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2012-2123
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2012-2123?
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