CVE intelligence and bounded remediation
CVE-2018-12465 — Microfocus Secure Messaging Gateway security vulnerability
An OS command injection vulnerability in the web administration component of Micro Focus Secure Messaging Gateway (SMG) allows a remote attacker authenticated as a privileged user to execute arbitrary OS commands on the SMG server. This can be exploited in conjunction with CVE-2018-12464 to achieve unauthenticated remote code execution. Affects Micro Focus Secure Messaging Gateway versions prior to 471. It does not affect previous versions of the product that used GWAVA product name (i.e. GWAVA 6.5).
- Severity
- Critical
- CVSS
- 9.1 (3.0)
- Published
- 2018-06-29
- CISA KEV
- Not currently listed
- Ecosystem
- software/application
- Weaknesses
- CWE-77, CWE-78
Affected products
- microfocus / secure_messaging_gateway
Matched remediation archetype
Command, code, expression, and template injection
This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.
Check exposure
- Trace untrusted values to process execution, interpreters, evaluators, template engines, dynamic imports, and administrative scripting features.
- Determine whether the affected path is reachable across each trust boundary and which service account or host privilege it inherits.
- Review configuration for optional execution features, unsafe compatibility modes, and shell invocation.
Remediate safely
- Replace string-built commands or evaluated code with fixed operations and structured argument APIs that do not invoke a shell.
- Use strict allowlists for operation identifiers and reject unexpected input before it reaches any interpreter.
- Update the affected component and add inert regression tests covering metacharacters, encoding variants, and alternate request paths.
Authoritative sources
Complete CVE record and remediation plan
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