Improper AuthenticationWeakness · CWE-287

CVE-2024-1147

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-03-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
Weak access control in OpenText PVCS Version Manager allows potential bypassing of authentication and download of files.

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

OpenText PVCS Version Manager contains a weak access control vulnerability that allows attackers to bypass authentication mechanisms and gain unauthorized access to download files from the version control system. This critical flaw enables unauthenticated remote attackers to potentially retrieve sensitive source code and configuration files stored in the repository.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied patches or updates for PVCS Version Manager immediately. If no patch is available, restrict network access to the PVCS server and implement additional authentication layers such as VPN or multi-factor authentication as a temporary compensating control.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Confirm PVCS Version Manager installation
    Check common installation directories for PVCS binaries or check installed programs list. Look for 'PVCS Version Manager' or ' Serena PVCS Version Manager' in program listings, or search for executables like 'pvcss.exe', 'vcs.exe', or the 'PVCS' directory in Program Files.
    Affected if The software is present on the system
  2. Identify installed version
    Run 'about' command from PVCS installation directory, check version info via executable properties, or look for version file in installation folder. Compare against any available version information from vendor release notes.
    Affected if Version is unpatched or cannot be verified against patched releases
  3. Determine if network services are enabled
    Check if PVCS web server or remote access service is running. Look for processes listening on common ports (8080, 80, 443) associated with PVCS web deployment, or check PVCS configuration for enabled network interfaces.
    Affected if Network-accessible services are running and exposed
  4. Inspect access control configuration
    Review PVCS configuration files (typically in the PVCS data or config directory) for authentication settings. Check for weak ACLs, enabled anonymous access, or misconfigured user permissions that would allow unauthenticated file retrieval.
    Affected if Anonymous or unauthenticated access is permitted, or authentication can be bypassed

A user is affected if PVCS Version Manager is installed with network-accessible services and authentication can be bypassed or is not properly enforced.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply vendor-supplied patches or updates for PVCS Version Manager immediately. If no patch is available, restrict network access to the PVCS server and implement additional authentication layers such as VPN or multi-factor authentication as a temporary compensating control.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
36.0 hours of engineering $6,400
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $10,240.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-1147 — 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-2024-1147 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