CVE-2012-4456 — keystone
Fix: openstack/keystone@14b136aCVE-2012-4456 is a Improper Authentication vulnerability in keystone. A fix is available for keystone — see the affected versions and patch details below.
OpenStack Keystone Improper Authentication vulnerability
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
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
The (1) OS-KSADM/services and (2) tenant APIs in OpenStack Keystone Essex before 2012.1.2 and Folsom before folsom-2 do not properly validate X-Auth-Token, which allow remote attackers to read the roles for an arbitrary user or get, create, or delete arbitrary services.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | keystone | ≥ 2012.1&&< 2012.1.2 | 2012.1.2pip install --upgrade 'keystone==2012.1.2' |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for keystone, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update keystone to 2012.1.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2012-4456 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2012-4456 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2012-4456. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| OpenStack Essex for RHEL 6 | openstack-keystone-0:2012.1.2-4.el6 | RHSA-2012:1378 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2012-4456 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2012-4456 across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.