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CVE-2012-5351· NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

Apache Axis2 allows remote attackers to forge messages and bypass authentication via a SAML assertion that lacks a Signature element, aka a

Apache Axis2 allows remote attackers to forge messages and bypass authentication via a SAML assertion that lacks a Signature element, aka a "Signature exclusion attack," a different vulnerability than CVE-2012-4418.

MediumCVSS 6.4 · v2.0—No exploit Fix available
Published
Oct 9, 2012
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
5.1% · 92th percentile
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Report tools

JSON

Action score

27

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
25 / 40 · 6.4 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
2 / 30 · 5.1%

Affected systems

VendorProduct
apacheaxis2

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • apache axis2all versions

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Mavenorg.apache.axis2:axis2before 1.6.41.6.4

Same product

apache: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2010-0219Apache Axis2, as used in dswsbobje.war in SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.2, CA ARCserve D2D r15, and other products, has a default pass
    67This week
  • CVE-2010-2103Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in axis2-admin/axis2-admin/engagingglobally in the administration console in Apache Axis2/Java 1.4.
    27Monitor
  • CVE-2012-4418Apache Axis2 allows remote attackers to forge messages and bypass authentication via an "XML Signature wrapping attack."
    25Monitor
  • CVE-2012-5785Apache Axis2/Java 1.6.2 and earlier does not verify that the server hostname matches a domain name in the subject's Common Name (CN) or subj
    24Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
Maven:org.apache.axis2:axis21.6.4Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
P · data can be read
Integrity
P · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
none
Attack complexity
Low
Confidentiality impact
P
Integrity impact
P
Availability impact
None

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-287 · Improper Authentication

CVSS vector

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N

nvd-primary

Root cause

Authentication is added route by route instead of being enforced in one place. When a route added later bypasses the shared middleware, the session check never runs for it.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-287 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

ts
app.use("/admin", requireSession, adminRouter);
// Route added later skips the middlewareapp.post("/admin-api/config", updateConfig);

Fixed

ts
const admin = express.Router();admin.use(requireSession, requireRole("admin"));
admin.post("/config", updateConfig);app.use("/admin", admin);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Noroxi analysis

No Noroxi analysis for this record yet

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Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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References

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records