CVE-2014-1698
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 · uneditedDirectory traversal vulnerability in Siemens SIMATIC WinCC OA before 3.12 P002 January allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via crafted packets to TCP port 4999.
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 confidenceDirectory traversal vulnerability in Siemens SIMATIC WinCC OA versions prior to 3.12 P002 allows unauthenticated remote attackers to read arbitrary files on the target system by sending specially crafted packets to TCP port 4999.
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<= 3.12CVSS 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 if WinCC OA is installedCheck Windows registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for entries containing 'WinCC' or 'WinCC OA', or check common installation paths such as C:\Program Files\Siemens\WinCC_OA or C:\Siemens\WinCC_OA for the presence of the software.Affected if WinCC OA software is found on the system
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Determine the installed versionLocate the version information in the registry under the WinCC OA uninstall entry, or check the file properties of the main executable (typically wina.exe or scada.exe) in the installation directory.Affected if The version is earlier than 3.12 P002 or the version cannot be determined (treat as vulnerable)
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Check if TCP port 4999 is listeningRun the command 'netstat -an | findstr :4999' or use PowerShell 'Get-NetTCPConnection -LocalPort 4999' to determine if the WinCC OA manager is accepting connections on the vulnerable port.Affected if Port 4999 is in LISTENING state and accessible from network
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Verify the directory traversal handler is exposedIf the service is running on port 4999, attempt a local test by examining if the Ctrl manager (which handles the raw protocol) is bound to the network interface. Check configuration files in the WinCC OA config directory for 'port=4999' or 'ctrl=1' settings.Affected if The Ctrl manager service is bound to a network-accessible IP on port 4999
A user is affected if Siemens SIMATIC WinCC OA is installed with a version prior to 3.12 P002 and TCP port 4999 is exposed and accepting connections.
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 Siemens SIMATIC WinCC OA version 3.12 P002 or later. If immediate patching is not possible, restrict network access to TCP port 4999 and implement additional network segmentation controls.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-1698 — 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-2014-1698 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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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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