CVE-2013-4961
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 · uneditedPuppet Enterprise before 3.0.1 includes version information for the Apache and Phusion Passenger products in its HTTP response headers, which allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information.
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 confidencePuppet Enterprise versions before 3.0.1 expose Apache and Phusion Passenger version information in HTTP response headers, allowing remote attackers to fingerprint the software components and identify potentially vulnerable versions.
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<= 3.0.0= 2.5.1= 2.5.2= 2.8.0= 2.8.1= 2.8.2= 2.8.3CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Puppet Enterprise installationCheck for Puppet Enterprise by looking for /opt/puppet directory or running 'facter puppetenterprise_version' if facter is availableAffected if Puppet Enterprise is not installed or the directory does not exist means not affected
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Determine installed Puppet Enterprise versionCheck the version file typically at /opt/puppet/etc/puppet-enterprise-version or run 'cat /opt/puppet/versions.txt' if the directory existsAffected if Version is 3.0.0 or lower, or matches 2.5.1, 2.5.2, 2.8.0, 2.8.1, 2.8.2, or 2.8.3 - these are the affected versions
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Inspect HTTP response headers for version disclosureSend an HTTP request to the Puppet Enterprise console or node classifier API (typically port 443 or 3000) using 'curl -I https://<puppet-server>/' and examine headers such as Server, X-Powered-By, and any Passenger-related headersAffected if Headers reveal Apache version (Server: Apache/X.X.X), Phusion Passenger version (X-Powered-By: Phusion Passenger), or other version strings in the Server header - this indicates the vulnerability is present
A system is affected if Puppet Enterprise version is 3.0.0 or lower, or exactly 2.5.1, 2.5.2, 2.8.0, 2.8.1, 2.8.2, or 2.8.3 AND HTTP responses expose Apache or Passenger version information in headers.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade to Puppet Enterprise 3.0.1 or later, or configure Apache (ServerTokens/ServerSignature directives) and Passenger to suppress version disclosure in response headers.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,744.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-4961 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-4961 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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