How severe is CVE-2012-5496?

CVE-2012-5496 has a CVSS score of 7.5/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2012-5496?

CVE-2012-5496 affects the following packages: plone (PyPI). Ecosystems affected: PyPI.

How do I fix CVE-2012-5496?

Update plone to 4.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2012-5496 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2012-5496 in my PyPI dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for plone, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2012-5496 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.

Is CVE-2012-5496 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2012-5496 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2012-5496?

CVE-2012-5496 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 1.6%, placing it in the 76th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2012-5496?

CVE-2012-5496 is classified as CWE-399 (CWE-399). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2012-5496 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2012-5496 was published on May 17, 2022 and was last updated on October 14, 2024. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐍

🐍 PyPI

Not in CISA KEV

HIGH severity

CVE-2012-5496 — plone

HIGH

CVE-2012-5496 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-399 vulnerability in plone. A fix is available for plone — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Plone DoS via Crafted URL

Also known asPYSEC-2014-38

Published

May 17, 2022

Updated

Oct 14, 2024

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Nov 5, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

1.6%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs76th percentile — riskier than 76% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

🐍plone

Real-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

kupu_spellcheck.py in Kupu in Plone before 4.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (ZServer thread lock) via a crafted URL.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐍PyPI	`plone`	all versions	4.0`pip install --upgrade 'plone==4.0'`

Affected Products

1 product · 49 configurations

Application

ploneplone

≤ 3.3.5

48 versions

1.01.0.11.0.21.0.31.0.41.0.51.0.62.02.0.12.0.22.0.32.0.4

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for plone, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update plone to 4.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2012-5496 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.

Frequently Asked Questions

kupu_spellcheck.py in Kupu in Plone before 4.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (ZServer thread lock) via a crafted URL.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

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CVSS Score

7.5/10CVSS v3 base

Vector breakdown

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Raw vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CWE Classification

CWE-399CWE-399

Weaponization

No Nuclei template, Metasploit module or public proof-of-concept found.

Timeline

Disclosed

May 17, 2022

Last updated

Oct 14, 2024

Identifiers

CVE-2012-5496

PYSEC-2014-38

References

Advisorynvd.nist.gov · CVE 2012 5496 Webgithub.com · CHANGES.txt Webgithub.com · PYSEC 2014 38.yaml Webplone.org Webplone.org Webopenwall.com Packagegithub.com · Plone

Related vulnerabilities

This CVE is high severity — higher than any of the other 4 CVEs affecting plone (highest there: moderate).

CVE-2021-29002CVE-2011-1340CVE-2008-1396CVE-2006-1711

Provenance

Sources

OSV.devNVDFIRST.org (EPSS)

Last verifiedOct 14, 2024

CVE-2012-5496 — plone

EPSS Exploitation Probability

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

Description

Affected Packages

Affected Products

Detection & mitigation playbook

Detect

Fix

Workarounds

Frequently Asked Questions

Is CVE-2012-5496 in your dependencies?