Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This flaw could let an unauthenticated network attacker reach EJB methods that administrators expected to be restricted. It occurs when no roles are defined for an EJB method and JBoss EAP authorization treats the call as allowed. Business impact is unauthorized access to sensitive application functions, with limited confidentiality and integrity impact per CVSS.
Executive priority
Treat as a moderate legacy-platform access-control issue. It should be prioritized where JBoss EAP 6 remains internet reachable, supports sensitive business functions, or runs without current vendor support. No source provided confirms active exploitation.
Technical view
CVE-2012-4549 affects Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform EJB authorization handling. The AuthorizationInterceptor processInvocation logic incorrectly permits invocations when an EJB method has no roles defined. The published vector is network reachable, low complexity, no privileges, no user interaction, unchanged scope, with low confidentiality and integrity impact.
Likely exposure
Most likely exposure is Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 deployments, especially EAP 6 for RHEL 5 package builds listed in the source bundle. The bundle also marks JBoss EAP 6.0 default status as unaffected, so product-channel confirmation is important.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. The vulnerability is remotely reachable and does not require authentication, but the practical risk depends on whether exposed EJB methods lack explicit role restrictions and provide sensitive operations.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE description, Red Hat advisories, and source metadata. The affected list contains broad EAP 6 for RHEL 5 package entries and an unaffected default status for EAP 6.0, so validate exact entitlement channel and installed build before declaring exposure.
Mitigation direction
- Review Red Hat RHSA-2012:1591, RHSA-2012:1592, and RHSA-2012:1594 for applicable updates.
- Apply vendor-supported JBoss EAP 6 updates for affected RHEL 5 package channels.
- Audit EJB methods for missing or ambiguous role restrictions.
- Restrict network access to JBoss EAP services until vendor guidance is confirmed.
- Prioritize migration if the affected EAP or RHEL platform is unsupported.
Validation and detection
- Inventory JBoss EAP 6 deployments and map them to Red Hat product channels.
- Compare installed EAP package builds against the source bundle and Red Hat advisories.
- Review EJB authorization annotations and deployment descriptors for methods without roles.
- Confirm sensitive EJB methods reject unauthorized users in regression tests.
- Check vulnerability scanners for CVE-2012-4549 coverage and validate findings manually.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-266: Exact CWE lookup
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Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2012-4549 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 6.5 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N3.92.5redhatVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
6.5MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- Source timelineredhat
Made public.
- Source timelineredhat
Reported to Red Hat.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- RHSA-2012:1591CVE reference, redhat · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2012:1592CVE reference, redhat · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2012:1594CVE reference, redhat · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2012-4549CVE reference, redhat · vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Incorrect Privilege Assignment
Incorrect Privilege Assignment represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.