CVE-2014-0643
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 · uneditedEMC RSA NetWitness before 9.8.5.19 and RSA Security Analytics before 10.2.4 and 10.3.x before 10.3.2, when Kerberos PAM is enabled, do not require a password, which allows remote attackers to bypass authentication by leveraging knowledge of a valid account name.
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 confidenceEMC RSA NetWitness and RSA Security Analytics contain a Kerberos PAM authentication bypass vulnerability. When Kerberos PAM is enabled, the systems fail to require a password for authentication, allowing remote attackers to bypass the entire authentication mechanism using only a valid username.
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< 9.8.5.19>= 10.2, < 10.2.4>= 10.3, < 10.3.2CVSS 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
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the installed RSA productDetermine whether the system is running RSA NetWitness or RSA Security Analytics. This may be visible in the product's web interface, startup logs, or system documentation.Affected if The product is either RSA NetWitness or RSA Security Analytics.
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Check the installed version of RSA NetWitnessRun the command to display the NetWitness version (for example, 'nwversion' or check the '/opt/rsa' directory for version information). Compare the output to the affected range: versions less than 9.8.5.19 are vulnerable.Affected if The installed version is less than 9.8.5.19.
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Check the installed version of RSA Security AnalyticsRun the command to display the Security Analytics version (for example, 'saversion' or check system logs). Compare the output to the affected ranges: versions 10.2.x less than 10.2.4, or versions 10.3.x less than 10.3.2 are vulnerable.Affected if The installed version is 10.2.x less than 10.2.4, or 10.3.x less than 10.3.2.
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Verify whether Kerberos PAM authentication is enabledInspect the PAM configuration files (typically in /etc/pam.d/ or similar) for modules named 'pam_krb5' or 'pam_ldap' related to RSA authentication, or check the product's authentication settings through its configuration interface.Affected if Kerberos PAM authentication is enabled on the system.
The system is affected if it runs a vulnerable version of RSA NetWitness (< 9.8.5.19) or RSA Security Analytics (10.2.x < 10.2.4 or 10.3.x < 10.3.2) AND has Kerberos PAM authentication enabled.
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 data9.8.5.1910.2.410.3.2
Disable or reconfigure Kerberos PAM authentication, or upgrade to RSA NetWitness 9.8.5.19+, RSA Security Analytics 10.2.4+, or 10.3.2+ to remediate this vulnerability.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-0643 — 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-2014-0643 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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