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Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical

CVE-2013-1653

HIGH · 7.1 CVSS v2.0 Published 2013-03-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.6.17 or later.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Puppet before 2.6.18, 2.7.x before 2.7.21, and 3.1.x before 3.1.1, and Puppet Enterprise before 1.2.7 and 2.7.x before 2.7.2, when listening for incoming connections is enabled and allowing access to the "run" REST endpoint is allowed, allows remote authenticated users to execute arbitrary code via a crafted HTTP request.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Puppet contains a remote code execution vulnerability in its REST API. When the listen option is enabled and the 'run' REST endpoint is accessible, remote authenticated users can send crafted HTTP requests to execute arbitrary code on the Puppet master. This stems from insufficient validation of input passed through the 'run' endpoint.

MitigationUpgrade Puppet to version 2.6.18+, 2.7.21+, 3.1.1+ (or Puppet Enterprise 1.2.7+/2.7.2+), or disable the 'run' REST endpoint and/or disable incoming connections if upgrading is not immediately feasible.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 11.10= 12.04= 12.10
PuppetApplication
Affected:>= 2.6.0, <= 2.6.17= 2.7.2= 2.7.3= 2.7.4= 2.7.5= 2.7.6= 2.7.7= 2.7.8= 2.7.9= 2.7.10= 2.7.11= 2.7.12
PuppetApplication
Affected:= 2.7.0= 2.7.1= 2.7.19= 2.7.20= 1.0= 1.1= 1.2.0= 1.2.1= 1.2.2= 1.2.3= 1.2.4= 1.2.5
Puppet EnterpriseApplication
Affected:= 3.1.0= 2.7.0= 2.7.1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
High
Authentication
Single
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:H/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check installed Puppet version
    Run `puppet --version` on the Puppet master or examine the installed package version using the system package manager (e.g., `dpkg -l puppet` on Ubuntu, `rpm -qa puppet` on RHEL).
    Affected if The installed version falls within: Puppet 2.6.0 to 2.6.17; 2.7.0 to 2.7.12 (specific versions: 2.7.0, 2.7.1, 2.7.2, 2.7.3, 2.7.4, 2.7.5, 2.7.6, 2.7.7, 2.7.8, 2.7.9, 2.7.10, 2.7.11, 2.7.12); Puppetlabs Puppet 1.0, 1.1, 1.2.0-1.2.5, 2.7.19, 2.7.20; or Puppet Enterprise 2.7.0, 2.7.1, 3.1.0.
  2. Verify the listen option is enabled in puppet.conf
    Locate the puppet.conf configuration file (typically at /etc/puppet/puppet.conf or /etc/puppet.conf) and search for the `[master]` section. Check if `listen = true` is present under that section.
    Affected if The listen option is set to true in the [master] section of puppet.conf.
  3. Confirm the run REST endpoint is accessible
    Check if the Puppet master is configured to accept incoming connections on the run endpoint port (default 8139). Review the puppet.conf for any `masterport` or `listen` settings, and verify the firewall/iptables rules allow incoming connections to port 8139. Also examine the auth.conf file (at /etc/puppet/auth.conf) to see if the run endpoint path (/run) is defined and accessible.
    Affected if Port 8139 is open/accessible and the run endpoint is not explicitly denied in auth.conf.
  4. Check for unauthenticated or authenticated access rules to the run endpoint
    Examine the /etc/puppet/auth.conf file and look for rules matching the path /run. Determine if access control allows authenticated remote users to invoke the run endpoint.
    Affected if The auth.conf permits authenticated remote users to access the /run endpoint without sufficient validation.

A system is affected by CVE-2013-1653 if it runs a vulnerable Puppet version AND has listen=true enabled AND exposes the run REST endpoint to authenticated remote users.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 2.6.17
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Puppet to version 2.6.18+, 2.7.21+, 3.1.1+ (or Puppet Enterprise 1.2.7+/2.7.2+), or disable the 'run' REST endpoint and/or disable incoming connections if upgrading is not immediately feasible.

Fix this in Ubuntu Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-1653 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data