CVE-2012-3542 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-264 vulnerability in keystone. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2012-3542 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
OpenStack Keystone Allows Remote User Account Creation
Real-World Exposure
keystoneReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
OpenStack Keystone, as used in OpenStack Folsom before folsom-rc1 and OpenStack Essex (2012.1), allows remote attackers to add an arbitrary user to an arbitrary tenant via a request to update the user's default tenant to the administrative API. NOTE: this identifier was originally incorrectly assigned to an open redirect issue, but the correct identifier for that issue is CVE-2012-3540.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | keystone | all versions | 2012.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for keystone. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update keystone to 2012.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2012-3542 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2012-3542 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2012-3542. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2012-3542 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2012-3542 across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.