CVE-2014-8552
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 WinCC server in Siemens SIMATIC WinCC 7.0 through SP3, 7.2 before Update 9, and 7.3 before Update 2; SIMATIC PCS 7 7.1 through SP4, 8.0 through SP2, and 8.1; and TIA Portal 13 before Update 6 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via crafted packets.
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 WinCC server in Siemens SIMATIC industrial control software contains a path traversal vulnerability allowing remote unauthenticated attackers to read arbitrary files on the system via specially crafted network packets.
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= 7.1= 7.1= 8.0= 8.1= 13.0= 7.0= 7.2= 7.3CVSS 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 Siemens WinCC server is installedCheck for WinCC installation directory at C:\Program Files\Siemens\WinCC or C:\Program Files (x86)\Siemens\WinCC, or look for WinCC services in Windows Services list (typically named 'WinCC Server' or 'Siemens WinCC')Affected if WinCC server software is present on the system
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Determine installed WinCC versionCheck the WinCC version by opening the WinCC Explorer utility and viewing 'Help' > 'About WinCC', or check the file version of WinCC.exe in the WinCC bin folder (typically C:\Program Files\Siemens\WinCC\bin\WinCC.exe)Affected if Installed version is 7.0, 7.2, or 7.3 (or PCS7 versions 7.1, 8.0, 8.1, or TIA Portal 13.0)
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Verify WinCC server service is running and exposedOpen Windows Services, locate the WinCC-related service (such as WinCCServer or WinCC), and check if its 'Startup type' is set to Automatic and the service is Running. Use 'netstat -an | findstr LISTENING' to check if port 80, 443, or 2301/2302 (WinCC ports) are listening on non-loopback addressesAffected if WinCC server service is running and listening on accessible network interfaces
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Check network exposure of WinCC portsUse netstat -an or a network scanner to verify if WinCC ports (typically HTTP on 80/8080, HTTPS on 443, or WinCC-specific ports 2301, 2302) are bound to IP addresses other than 127.0.0.1 (localhost only)Affected if WinCC server ports are exposed to network addresses other than localhost, making the path traversal accessible to remote attackers
System is affected if WinCC server version 7.0, 7.2, or 7.3 (or matching PCS7/TIA Portal versions) is installed AND the WinCC server service is running with network exposure to non-localhost interfaces.
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 dataApply the vendor-supplied patches (WinCC 7.2 Update 9 or later, 7.3 Update 2 or later; PCS 7 and TIA Portal updates per advisory) and restrict network access to WinCC servers using firewalls and network segmentation.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 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-2014-8552 — 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-2014-8552 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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