dbcve.org
Factorytalk ActivationApplication · Rockwellautomation

CVE-2017-6015

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-05-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 4.00.02 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Without quotation marks, any whitespace in the file path for Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk Activation version 4.00.02 remains ambiguous, which may allow an attacker to link to or run a malicious executable. This may allow an authorized, but not privileged local user to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges on the system. CVSS v3 base score: 8.8, CVSS vector string: (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H). Rockwell Automation has released a new version of FactoryTalk Activation, Version 4.01, which addresses the identified vulnerability. Rockwell Automation recommends upgrading to the latest version of FactoryTalk Activation, Version 4.01 or later.

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

FactoryTalk Activation version 4.00.02 contains an unquoted service path vulnerability where file paths containing whitespace are not properly quoted. This path ambiguity allows a local attacker to place a malicious executable in an intermediate directory along the path, which may then be executed with elevated privileges.

MitigationUpgrade FactoryTalk Activation to version 4.01 or later to resolve the unquoted path vulnerability.

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
Factorytalk ActivationApplication
Affected:<= 4.00.02

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 if FactoryTalk Activation is installed
    Open Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall or check Add/Remove Programs for an entry named 'FactoryTalk Activation' or 'Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk Activation'. Note the version listed.
    Affected if The installed version is 4.00.02 or lower.
  2. Locate the FactoryTalk Activation Windows service
    Open Services (services.msc) and look for a service related to FactoryTalk Activation, or query via command line: sc queryex type= service state= all | findstr /i "activation"
    Affected if A service named 'FactoryTalk Activation' or similar exists on the system.
  3. Retrieve the service binary path
    Run the command: sc qc "<service_name>" (replace with the actual service name found) or check the ImagePath value in Registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\<service_name>
    Affected if The displayed path points to an executable in the FactoryTalk Activation program directory.
  4. Verify if the service path is unquoted
    Examine the ImagePath value from the previous step. Check if the path contains spaces and is NOT enclosed in quotation marks. For example, an unquoted path looks like: C:\Program Files\Rockwell Software\FactoryTalk Activation\FTActSvr.exe
    Affected if The path contains one or more whitespace characters and is missing surrounding quotes.
  5. Confirm the vulnerability condition
    Cross-reference: (1) FactoryTalk Activation version is 4.00.02 or lower, (2) a Windows service exists for it, (3) the service binary path has unquoted spaces. All three must be true.
    Affected if All conditions are met: vulnerable version installed, service exists, and service path contains unquoted whitespace.

You are affected if FactoryTalk Activation version 4.00.02 or lower is installed as a Windows service with an unquoted executable path containing whitespace.

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 4.00.02
Interim mitigation

Upgrade FactoryTalk Activation to version 4.01 or later to resolve the unquoted path vulnerability.

Fix this in Factorytalk Activation Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,540
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,464.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-6015 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2017-6015 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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