What is CVE-2012-6698?

CVE-2012-6698 is a high-severity vulnerability in Dhcpcd Project, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2016-04-11.

How severe is CVE-2012-6698?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.

Buffer overflow in Dhcpcd Project

CVE-2012-6698

The decode_search function in dhcp.c in dhcpcd 3.x allows remote DHCP servers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds write) via a crafted response.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2016-04-11 · last modified 2026-06-16.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.5 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.020 (80.3th percentile), scored 2026-10-29.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 80th percentile — 80.3% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.020 · newest: 0.020 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Dhcpcd Project — versions 3.1.9, 3.2.0, 3.2.1
Debian Linux — versions 7.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-119 — Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer

References

bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/dhcpcd/+bug/1517226
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/12/02/1 (mailing-list)
launchpadlibrarian.net/228152582/dhcp.c.patch
www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3534 (vendor-advisory)
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/12/03/1 (mailing-list)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2012-6698?: CVE-2012-6698 is a high-severity vulnerability in Dhcpcd Project, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2016-04-11.
How severe is CVE-2012-6698?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.