CVE-2012-4681
Published 2012-08-28 · Updated 2026-08-06 · Source cve@mitre.org
Summary
CVE-2012-4681 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) vulnerability in Oracle Java SE. CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on March 3, 2022, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed; US federal agencies had to remediate it by March 24, 2022. CISA also lists it as known to be used in ransomware campaigns, so it should be prioritised accordingly. Oracle has 46 vulnerabilities in the KEV catalog, 13 of them linked to ransomware.
All 46 known-exploited Oracle vulnerabilities →Description
Multiple vulnerabilities in the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) component in Oracle Java SE 7 Update 6 and earlier allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted applet that bypasses SecurityManager restrictions by (1) using com.sun.beans.finder.ClassFinder.findClass and leveraging an exception with the forName method to access restricted classes from arbitrary packages such as sun.awt.SunToolkit, then (2) using "reflection with a trusted immediate caller" to leverage the getField method to access and modify private fields, as exploited in the wild in August 2012 using Gondzz.class and Gondvv.class.
CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CISA Known-Exploited Vulnerability
Product: Oracle — Java SE
Name: Oracle Java SE Runtime Environment (JRE) Arbitrary Code Execution Vulnerability
Date added: 2022-03-03 · Due: 2022-03-24
Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.
References
- http://blog.fireeye.com/research/2012/08/zero-day-season-is-not-over-yet.html
- http://immunityproducts.blogspot.com/2012/08/java-0day-analysis-cve-2012-4681.html
- http://labs.alienvault.com/labs/index.php/2012/new-java-0day-exploited-in-the-wild/
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-09/msg00032.html
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-10/msg00016.html
- http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=135109152819176&w=2
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-1225.html
- http://secunia.com/advisories/51044

