CVE-2012-2982

file/show.cgi in Webmin 1.590 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to execute arbitrary commands via an invalid character in a pathname, as demonstrated by a | (pipe) character.

CVSS: 6.5Medium
Exploited in the wild: Not knownPublic exploit code; not in CISA KEV
EPSS: 61.9%chance of exploitation in the next 30 daystop 0.9% of scored CVEsFIRST score of 11 Nov 2026
Fix: Patch availablesee the advisories in the references
Published: 11 Sept 2012analysed here 12 Nov 2026

Summary

Triage

Exploitable: At runtime
Attack vector: network
Can a WAF block it?: Partly. See why

The summary, impact and action text on this page are written by our AI analysis pipeline, or taken from the NVD description when a CVE was imported from NVD. They are not the vendor's wording: check them against the sources. A longer AI executive summary and technical analysis are generated for signed-in accounts on the Max plan.

Affected products

Products named in our analysis

gentoo:webmin

Fix and mitigation

WAF and other mitigations

Can a WAF block it? Partly. The bug can be reached over the network, so generic WAF rules may stop some attacks. Its weakness type is unknown, so we cannot be more precise.

Also consider: patch

Based on the weakness type only; no CVE-specific evidence yet. We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.

Remediation steps (AI-written)

Step-by-step remediation is generated for accounts on the Max plan, for CVEs that match a technology in their stack. Add this technology to your stack to see the fix checklist.

Exploitation evidence

CISA KEV catalog: Not listed as of our last sync.
Public exploit code: Yes: 1 on Exploit-DB · 1 Metasploit module · 18 GitHub proofs of concept

Exploit-DB

Webmin 1.580 - '/file/show.cgi' Remote Command Execution (Metasploit)remote, 10 Oct 2012, verified by Exploit-DB

Metasploit

exploit/unix/webapp/webmin_show_cgi_execexploit, rank excellent

GitHub proofs of concept

and 14 more repositories

Listed so you can judge urgency, not as a recommendation to run anything. GitHub “proofs of concept” are unvetted: some are fake or carry malware. Exploit-DB marks the entries its staff verified.

Timeline

11 Sept 2012Published
10 Oct 2012First public exploit or proof of concept28 days later
6 Aug 2024CVE record last updated4,319 days (about 12 years) later
12 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com828 days (about 2 years) later

CVSS vector

CVSS 2.0 · AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P

Metric	Value	What it means
Attack vector	NetworkReachable over the internet or any routable network.	Reachable over the internet or any routable network.

Common questions

Is CVE-2012-2982 being exploited?

Not confirmed. CVE-2012-2982 does not appear in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which records only exploitation that has been observed and reported publicly. That is evidence of absence of a report, not evidence the flaw is unattacked. EPSS currently estimates a 62% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

How severe is CVE-2012-2982?

CVE-2012-2982 is rated Medium with a CVSS score of 6.5. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.

Is there a patch for CVE-2012-2982?

Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2012-2982. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.

What does CVE-2012-2982 affect?

CVE-2012-2982 affects gentoo:webmin. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.

Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.

References

NVD CVE.org CVE Details Source

6 references in the CVE record, grouped by the tags the record gives them.

Advisories (1)

kb.cert.org /vuls/id/788478

Where the data on this page comes from

CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
NVD: CVSS and CPE data
FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile
Exploit-DB: published exploits
Metasploit Framework: exploit and scanner modules
PoC-in-GitHub: GitHub repositories that claim a proof of concept

Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.

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