Factorytalk ViewApplication · Rockwellautomation

CVE-2020-14480

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-02-24
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 9.0 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Due to usernames/passwords being stored in plaintext in Random Access Memory (RAM), a local, authenticated attacker could gain access to certain credentials, including Windows Logon credentials.

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 confidence

This vulnerability allows a local, authenticated attacker to access plaintext usernames and passwords stored in Random Access Memory (RAM). The affected application fails to properly protect sensitive credential data, enabling memory inspection to extract authentication credentials including Windows Logon credentials.

MitigationImplement secure memory handling by clearing sensitive credential data from memory immediately after authentication use, utilizing secure credential storage APIs, and ensuring plaintext credentials are not retained in RAM.

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 ViewApplication
Affected:<= 9.0= 10.0

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
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Factorytalk View version
    Locate the Factorytalk View installation directory and retrieve the installed version number from the application or system information
    Affected if The installed version is 9.0 or earlier, or exactly version 10.0
  2. Confirm credential usage in application
    Determine if the Factorytalk View installation is actively used for authentication workflows that involve storing or processing user credentials
    Affected if The application handles authentication and credentials are processed through memory during login operations
  3. Inspect memory for unprotected credentials
    Use memory analysis tools to examine the Factorytalk View process memory for plaintext username and password strings during or after authentication
    Affected if Plaintext credentials can be extracted from RAM, indicating they are not being properly protected in memory

User is affected if Factorytalk View version 9.0 or earlier or version 10.0 is installed and credentials are retained in plaintext in memory after authentication.

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 9.0
Interim mitigation

Implement secure memory handling by clearing sensitive credential data from memory immediately after authentication use, utilizing secure credential storage APIs, and ensuring plaintext credentials are not retained in RAM.

Fix this in Factorytalk View Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.

Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-14480 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-14480 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