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PwgenApplication · Pwgen Project

CVE-2013-4441

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-01-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
The Phonemes mode in Pwgen 2.06 generates predictable passwords, which makes it easier for context-dependent attackers to guess the password via a brute-force attack.

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 · moderate confidence

The Phonemes mode in Pwgen 2.06 generates predictable passwords with insufficient entropy, allowing attackers to reduce the effective search space for brute-force attacks. The password generation algorithm in this mode does not produce sufficiently random character sequences, making derived passwords vulnerable to targeted guessing.

MitigationUpgrade from Pwgen 2.06 to a patched version, or avoid using the Phonemes mode until the vulnerability is addressed; consider using alternative password generation methods with proven cryptographic randomness.

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
PwgenApplication
Affected:= 2.06

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
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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. Verify if Pwgen is installed
    Run 'pwgen --version' or check package manager for pwgen installation
    Affected if Pwgen is present on the system
  2. Determine installed Pwgen version
    Execute 'pwgen --version' and compare the output to version 2.06
    Affected if The version shown is exactly 2.06
  3. Identify Phonemes mode usage
    Review command history, scripts, or configuration files for usage of pwgen with the --phonemes or -A flag, or any invocation using Phonemes mode
    Affected if Phonemes mode was used to generate passwords with Pwgen 2.06
  4. Check if affected passwords are still active
    Identify whether any passwords generated using Phonemes mode in Pwgen 2.06 are still in use in the environment
    Affected if Active passwords were generated using the vulnerable Phonemes mode in version 2.06

A user is affected if Pwgen version 2.06 is installed and Phonemes mode was used to generate passwords that remain in use.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade from Pwgen 2.06 to a patched version, or avoid using the Phonemes mode until the vulnerability is addressed; consider using alternative password generation methods with proven cryptographic randomness.

Fix this in Pwgen Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
25.0 hours of engineering $4,400
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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-2013-4441 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
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