CVE-2012-3819 in Powertcp Activex
Summary
by MITRE
Stack consumption vulnerability in dartwebserver.dll 1.9 and earlier, as used in Dart PowerTCP WebServer for ActiveX and other products, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon crash) via a long request.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/18/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2012-3819 represents a stack consumption issue within dartwebserver.dll version 1.9 and earlier implementations. This flaw exists within Dart PowerTCP WebServer for ActiveX and related products, creating a significant security concern that affects the stability and availability of web server operations. The vulnerability specifically targets the server's handling of incoming HTTP requests, where malformed or excessively long requests can trigger unexpected behavior in the underlying software architecture.
This stack consumption vulnerability operates through a classic buffer overflow mechanism where the web server fails to properly validate or limit the length of incoming request data. When remote attackers submit requests containing excessive data lengths, the server's stack memory management becomes compromised, leading to a daemon crash and subsequent denial of service condition. The flaw stems from inadequate input validation and memory allocation practices within the server's request processing pipeline, where the system does not enforce reasonable limits on request size parameters.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption, as it can be exploited by malicious actors to systematically destabilize web server operations. Attackers can leverage this weakness to repeatedly send oversized requests, causing continuous daemon crashes that effectively render the web server unavailable to legitimate users. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in production environments where continuous availability is critical for business operations, potentially resulting in financial losses and reputational damage. The vulnerability affects not only the specific Dart PowerTCP WebServer implementation but also any other products that utilize the vulnerable dartwebserver.dll component, creating a widespread attack surface.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2012-3819 should focus on immediate patching of affected systems, implementing request size limits within the web server configuration, and deploying network-level protections such as intrusion prevention systems. Organizations should also consider implementing rate limiting mechanisms to prevent abuse of the vulnerability through repeated attack attempts. From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, which addresses stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and maps to attack patterns within the MITRE ATT&CK framework related to denial of service and service disruption techniques. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and memory management practices in server-side applications, emphasizing the need for comprehensive security testing and code review processes to identify similar weaknesses in software components.