Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2013-4208

The rsa_verify function in PuTTY before 0.63 (1) does not clear sensitive process memory after use and (2) does not free certain structures containing sensitive process memory, which might allow local users to discover private RSA and DSA keys.

Security Impact Summary

CVE-2013-4208 is a security vulnerability that . Impacting 2 products from putty, from simon_tatham organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Documented in 2013, this vulnerability occurred amid the cloud computing expansion era, where traditional network perimeter security models were being reevaluated. Organizations were transitioning from isolated infrastructure to interconnected systems, creating new attack surfaces that vulnerabilities like this could exploit.

Published

2013-08-19T23:55:08.833

Last Modified

2025-04-11T00:51:21.963

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv2: 2.1 (LOW)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

Access Vector: LOCAL
Access Complexity: LOW
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: PARTIAL
Integrity Impact: NONE
Availability Impact: NONE

Exploitability Score

3.9

Impact Score

2.9

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-200

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	putty	putty	0.45	Yes
Application	putty	putty	0.46	Yes
Application	putty	putty	0.47	Yes
Application	putty	putty	0.48	Yes
Application	putty	putty	0.49	Yes
Application	putty	putty	0.50	Yes
Application	putty	putty	0.51	Yes
Application	putty	putty	0.52	Yes
Application	putty	putty	0.53b	Yes
Application	putty	putty	0.54	Yes
Application	putty	putty	0.55	Yes
Application	putty	putty	0.56	Yes
Application	putty	putty	0.57	Yes
Application	putty	putty	0.58	Yes
Application	putty	putty	0.59	Yes
Application	putty	putty	0.60	Yes
Application	putty	putty	0.61	Yes
Application	simon_tatham	putty	≤ 0.62	Yes
Application	simon_tatham	putty	0.53	Yes

References

http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2013-08/msg00035.html ([email protected])
http://secunia.com/advisories/54379 Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
http://secunia.com/advisories/54533 ([email protected])
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/wishlist/private-key-not-wiped.html ([email protected])
http://www.debian.org/security/2013/dsa-2736 ([email protected])
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/08/06/11 ([email protected])
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2013-08/msg00035.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://secunia.com/advisories/54379 Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://secunia.com/advisories/54533 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/wishlist/private-key-not-wiped.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.debian.org/security/2013/dsa-2736 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/08/06/11 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For putty's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.