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WinscpApplication

CVE-2014-2735

MEDIUM · 5.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-04-22
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 5.5.2 or later.
See remediation →
67/100
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
WinSCP before 5.5.3, when FTP with TLS is used, does not verify that the server hostname matches a domain name in the subject's Common Name (CN) or subjectAltName field of the X.509 certificate, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to spoof SSL servers via an arbitrary valid certificate.

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 confidence

WinSCP versions before 5.5.3 fail to validate the server hostname against the X.509 certificate's Common Name (CN) or subjectAltName fields when using FTP over TLS, allowing man-in-the-middle attackers to impersonate SSL servers with any valid certificate.

MitigationUpgrade WinSCP to version 5.5.3 or later which implements proper certificate hostname verification.

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
WinscpApplication
Affected:<= 5.5.2= 5.5= 5.5.1

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
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
None

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/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 WinSCP version
    Open WinSCP, go to Help > About, or right-click the WinSCP.exe file, select Properties, and view the Details tab to see the Product version
    Affected if Version is 5.5.2 or lower, or any 5.5.x release before 5.5.3 (5.5, 5.5.1, or 5.5.2)
  2. Identify stored FTP session configurations
    Open WinSCP, click Session > Sites or open your saved sessions. For each FTP session, check if TLS/SSL is enabled in the Advanced settings under FTP > TLS/SSL
    Affected if You have saved sessions using FTP protocol with TLS/SSL encryption (Explicit or Implicit) and the WinSCP version is vulnerable
  3. Verify active connection method
    When connecting, observe the connection dialog - if it shows FTP with TLS or SSL in the protocol description, the vulnerable code path is being used
    Affected if Connecting via FTP over TLS/SSL with a vulnerable WinSCP version allows the MITM attack vector

You are affected if WinSCP version is 5.5.2 or below and you use FTP over TLS/SSL connections to transfer files

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 a release after 5.5.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade WinSCP to version 5.5.3 or later which implements proper certificate hostname verification.

Fix this in Winscp Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $880
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,408.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2014-2735 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