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Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical

CVE-2013-4496

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-03-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.6.23 / 4.0.16 or later.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Samba 3.x before 3.6.23, 4.0.x before 4.0.16, and 4.1.x before 4.1.6 does not enforce the password-guessing protection mechanism for all interfaces, which makes it easier for remote attackers to obtain access via brute-force ChangePasswordUser2 (1) SAMR or (2) RAP attempts.

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

Samba versions 3.x before 3.6.23, 4.0.x before 4.0.16, and 4.1.x before 4.1.6 fail to enforce password-guessing protection on all interfaces, specifically the SAMR (Security Account Manager Remote) and RAP (Remote Administration Protocol) interfaces used for ChangePasswordUser2 operations. This allows remote attackers to conduct brute-force attacks against these password change mechanisms.

MitigationUpgrade Samba to version 3.6.23, 4.0.16, 4.1.6 or later. Additionally, restrict network access to SAMR and RAP interfaces using firewalls or disable these protocols if not required.

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:= 10.04= 12.04= 12.10= 13.10
SambaApplication
Affected:>= 3.4.0, < 3.6.23>= 4.0.0, < 4.0.16>= 4.1.0, < 4.1.6

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
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
None
Availability
None

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

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 Samba version
    Run 'smbd --version' or 'samba --version' to determine the installed Samba version
    Affected if The version is less than 3.6.23 for 3.x, less than 4.0.16 for 4.0.x, or less than 4.1.6 for 4.1.x series
  2. Verify SAMR interface is exposed
    Check if TCP ports 139 or 445 are listening and accessible from untrusted networks. Use 'netstat -tlnp | grep -E "(139|445)"' or 'ss -tlnp | grep -E "(139|445)"' to identify listening services
    Affected if SMB ports are open to untrusted networks and Samba version is in the affected range
  3. Confirm RAP password change functionality is available
    Test if the SAMR and RAP ChangePasswordUser2 operations are reachable. This can be attempted using 'smbclient' or 'net rpc' commands if available, or by examining smb.conf for 'rpc server' settings
    Affected if Password change via SAMR/RAP is accessible and Samba version is affected

You are affected if running a Samba version in the affected range (3.4.0 to 3.6.22, 4.0.0 to 4.0.15, or 4.1.0 to 4.1.5) AND the SAMR/RAP interfaces are exposed on the network

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 3.6.23 / 4.0.16 / 4.1.6 or later
Fixed in 3.6.234.0.164.1.6
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Samba to version 3.6.23, 4.0.16, 4.1.6 or later. Additionally, restrict network access to SAMR and RAP interfaces using firewalls or disable these protocols if not required.

Fix this in Ubuntu Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,130
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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-2013-4496 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