CVE-2014-4040
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 · uneditedsnap in powerpc-utils 1.2.20 produces an archive with fstab and yaboot.conf files potentially containing cleartext passwords, and lacks a warning about reviewing this archive to detect included passwords, which might allow remote attackers to obtain sensitive information by leveraging access to a technical-support data stream.
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 snap utility in powerpc-utils 1.2.20 generates support archives containing system configuration files (fstab and yaboot.conf) that may contain cleartext passwords. The utility provides no warning about reviewing these archives for sensitive content, allowing attackers with access to support data streams to obtain credentials.
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= 1.2.20CVSS 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 powerpc-utils versionRun 'rpm -q powerpc-utils' or 'dpkg -l powerpc-utils' depending on your package manager to retrieve the installed versionAffected if The installed version is exactly 1.2.20
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Locate the snap utilityRun 'which snap' or check /usr/bin/snap to verify the snap utility from powerpc-utils is present on the systemAffected if The snap utility is installed and executable
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Find existing snap archivesSearch common directories for .snap, .tar, or .gz files created by snap: 'find /var /tmp /root -name "*.snap" -o -name "*snap*.tar*" 2>/dev/null'Affected if Any snap-generated archive files exist on the system
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Inspect fstab for embedded passwordsExamine /etc/fstab for any password entries (look for 'password=', 'passwd=', or plain text credentials in mount options)Affected if The fstab file contains cleartext passwords or credentials
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Inspect yaboot.conf for embedded passwordsExamine /etc/yaboot.conf for password-related entries (look for 'password=', 'restricted', or plain text credentials)Affected if The yaboot.conf file contains cleartext passwords or credentials
You are affected if powerpc-utils version 1.2.20 is installed AND the snap utility has been used to create archives containing fstab or yaboot.conf files with cleartext passwords.
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 dataRestrict access to technical-support data streams to authorized personnel only. Manually review and sanitize any support archives before sharing to ensure credential-containing files are excluded.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 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 $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-4040 — 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-2014-4040 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