CVE-2012-3406
MEDIUMEPSS 86th pctlDescription
The vfprintf function in stdio-common/vfprintf.c in GNU C Library (aka glibc) 2.5, 2.12, and probably other versions does not "properly restrict the use of" the alloca function when allocating the SPECS array, which allows context-dependent attackers to bypass the FORTIFY_SOURCE format-string protection mechanism and cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted format string using positional parameters and a large number of format specifiers, a different vulnerability than CVE-2012-3404 and CVE-2012-3405.
How to fix
Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.
CVSS v2 Vector
No CVSS vector data available.
Exploit Intelligence
Elevated risk: more likely to be exploited than 86% of all known CVEs.
References
Related Vulnerabilities
Other CWE-264 (Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls) vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all
| CVE | Severity | CVSS | EPSS | Exploited | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2012-1456 | Medium | 4.3 | 100% | - | - |
| CVE-2012-1459 | Medium | 4.3 | 100% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2012-1446 | Medium | 4.3 | 100% | - | - |
| CVE-2012-1443 | Medium | 4.3 | 100% | - | - |
| CVE-2012-1442 | Medium | 4.3 | 99% | - | - |
| CVE-2012-1457 | Medium | 4.3 | 98% | - | Fix |
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Start freeThis product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2026-04-29.