CVE-2014-4686
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 Project administration application in Siemens SIMATIC WinCC before 7.3, as used in PCS7 and other products, has a hardcoded encryption key, which allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information by extracting this key from another product installation and then employing this key during the sniffing of network traffic on TCP port 1030.
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 confidenceSiemens SIMATIC WinCC versions before 7.3 contain a hardcoded encryption key in the Project administration application. This key, used for securing network communications on TCP port 1030, can be extracted from one product installation and reused to decrypt traffic from other affected installations, enabling attackers to obtain sensitive information through network sniffing.
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<= 8.0= 7.1= 8.0<= 7.2= 5.0= 6.0= 7.0= 7.1CVSS 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
- Partial
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
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 installed WinCC or SIMATIC Pcs7 versionOpen the SIMATIC Manager or WinCC Explorer and navigate to Help > About to view the installed product version. Alternatively, check the program files directory for version indicators or review the installation logs.Affected if The installed version is WinCC 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 7.1, or 7.2, or SIMATIC Pcs7 7.1 or 8.0 (or any version <= 8.0 for Pcs7).
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Verify TCP port 1030 is activeOpen Windows Task Manager or use netstat -ano command to check if the system is listening on TCP port 1030. This port is used by the Project administration application for encrypted network communications.Affected if TCP port 1030 is open and listening, indicating the vulnerable network communication feature is enabled.
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Confirm Project administration application is configuredCheck if the WinCC Project administration (Project Administrator) is installed and has been used to configure network communication settings between stations. Look for related processes or configuration files in the WinCC project directory.Affected if The Project administration application is installed and network communication between WinCC stations is configured.
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Check for unencrypted or sniffing-accessible network trafficUse a network packet capture tool (such as Wireshark) on the local network segment to observe traffic on TCP port 1030. If the hardcoded key is present, traffic may be decryptable if captured.Affected if Network traffic to/from TCP port 1030 is observable on the network and originates from an affected version installation.
A system is affected if it runs any version of Siemens WinCC <= 7.2 or SIMATIC Pcs7 <= 8.0, has TCP port 1030 active for Project administration network communications, and network traffic on that port is accessible to potential attackers.
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 SIMATIC WinCC 7.3 or later to eliminate the hardcoded key. Additionally, implement network segmentation to isolate ICS systems and monitor TCP port 1030 for suspicious traffic patterns.
- Consultation10.0 h
- Implementation20.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-4686 — 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-2014-4686 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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