Vulnerability Database

346,508

Total vulnerabilities in the database

CVE-2012-3418 — sgi / performance_co-pilot

Numeric Errors

libpcp in Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) before 3.6.5 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code via (1) a PDU with the numcreds field value greater than the number of actual elements to the __pmDecodeCreds function in p_creds.c; (2) the string byte number value to the __pmDecodeNameList function in p_pmns.c; (3) the numids value to the __pmDecodeIDList function in p_pmns.c; (4) unspecified vectors to the __pmDecodeProfile function in p_profile.c; the (5) status number value or (6) string number value to the __pmDecodeNameList function in p_pmns.c; (7) certain input to the __pmDecodeResult function in p_result.c; (8) the name length field (namelen) to the DecodeNameReq function in p_pmns.c; (9) a crafted PDU_FETCH request to the __pmDecodeFetch function in p_fetch.c; (10) the namelen field in the __pmDecodeInstanceReq function in p_instance.c; (11) the buflen field to the __pmDecodeText function in p_text.c; (12) PDU_INSTANCE packets to the __pmDecodeInstance in p_instance.c; or the (13) c_numpmid or (14) v_numval fields to the __pmDecodeLogControl function in p_lcontrol.c, which triggers integer overflows, heap-based buffer overflows, and/or buffer over-reads.

  • Published: Aug 27, 2012
  • Updated: Nov 9, 2025
  • CVE: CVE-2012-3418
  • Severity: Medium
  • Exploit:

CVSS v2:

  • Severity: Medium
  • Score: 5
  • AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

CWEs:

Frequently Asked Questions

A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.

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Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.

Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.

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