Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2012-5656

The rasterization process in Inkscape before 0.48.4 allows local users to read arbitrary files via an external entity in a SVG file, aka an XML external entity (XXE) injection attack.

Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.5, requiring local system access to exploit with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction requiring only low-level privileges . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), for affected systems. Impacting 4 products from inkscape, from fedoraproject, from canonical and 1 other, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Documented in 2013, this vulnerability occurred amid the cloud computing expansion era, where traditional network perimeter security models were being reevaluated. Organizations were transitioning from isolated infrastructure to interconnected systems, creating new attack surfaces that vulnerabilities like this could exploit.

Published

2013-01-18T11:48:40.323

Last Modified

2025-04-11T00:51:21.963

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 5.5 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

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

Access Vector: LOCAL
Access Complexity: LOW
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: PARTIAL
Integrity Impact: NONE
Availability Impact: NONE

Exploitability Score

3.9

Impact Score

2.9

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-611

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	inkscape	inkscape	< 0.48.4	Yes
Operating System	fedoraproject	fedora	16	Yes
Operating System	fedoraproject	fedora	17	Yes
Operating System	fedoraproject	fedora	18	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	10.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	11.10	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	12.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	12.10	Yes
Operating System	opensuse	opensuse	11.4	Yes
Operating System	opensuse	opensuse	12.1	Yes
Operating System	opensuse	opensuse	12.2	Yes

References

http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~inkscape.dev/inkscape/trunk/revision/11931 Patch ([email protected])
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2012-December/095024.html Mailing List ([email protected])
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2013-January/095380.html Mailing List ([email protected])
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2013-January/095398.html Mailing List ([email protected])
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2013-02/msg00041.html Mailing List ([email protected])
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2013-02/msg00043.html Mailing List ([email protected])
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/12/20/3 Exploit, Mailing List ([email protected])
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/56965 Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1712-1 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1025185 Exploit, Issue Tracking ([email protected])
https://launchpad.net/inkscape/+milestone/0.48.4 Product ([email protected])
http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~inkscape.dev/inkscape/trunk/revision/11931 Patch (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2012-December/095024.html Mailing List (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2013-January/095380.html Mailing List (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2013-January/095398.html Mailing List (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2013-02/msg00041.html Mailing List (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2013-02/msg00043.html Mailing List (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/12/20/3 Exploit, Mailing List (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/56965 Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1712-1 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1025185 Exploit, Issue Tracking (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://launchpad.net/inkscape/+milestone/0.48.4 Product (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For inkscape's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.