CVE-2013-6948
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 · uneditedThe peerAddresses API in the Belkin WeMo Home Automation firmware before 3949 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via an XML document containing an external entity declaration in conjunction with an entity reference, related to an XML External Entity (XXE) issue.
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 confidenceThe peerAddresses API in Belkin WeMo Home Automation firmware versions prior to 3949 is vulnerable to XML External Entity (XXE) injection. Remote attackers can exploit this by sending specially crafted XML documents containing external entity declarations to read arbitrary files from the device's filesystem.
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= 2769CVSS 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
- Complete
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/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 the WeMo firmware versionAccess the device's web interface (typically http://[device-ip]/), navigate to the device settings or firmware information page, or query the device's UPnP/SOAP endpoints for the FirmwareVersion attribute.Affected if The firmware version is 2769 or any version prior to 3949.
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Locate the peerAddresses API endpointInspect the WeMo's UPnP service description (usually at http://[device-ip]/upnp/control/homeautomation or similar) or enumerate available SOAP action URLs. Look for the peerAddresses or similar network discovery-related action.Affected if The peerAddresses action is exposed and accessible via the device's UPnP control URLs.
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Confirm XML request processing is enabledSend a benign SOAP or UPnP request to the device that triggers XML parsing (such as a basic discovery or control request) and observe whether the device processes and responds to XML-encoded messages.Affected if The device accepts and parses XML requests without validation, which is the default behavior for the affected firmware.
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Test for XXE vulnerability (optional validation)Send a crafted XML request to the peerAddresses endpoint containing an external entity reference (e.g., <!DOCTYPE foo [<!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM "file:///etc/passwd">]>) and check if the response includes file contents or causes an error revealing file access.Affected if The device processes external entities and returns content from the device's filesystem, confirming the XXE flaw is present.
You are affected if your Belkin WeMo device runs firmware version 2769 or any version prior to 3949 and has the peerAddresses API accessible, as the default XML parsing behavior in those versions allows external entity injection.
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 the Belkin WeMo firmware to version 3949 or later to patch the XXE vulnerability. If firmware updates are unavailable, implement XML input validation to reject documents containing DTD declarations and external entity references.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-6948 — 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-2013-6948 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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