CVE-2013-4208

The rsa_verify function in PuTTY before 0.63 (1) does not clear sensitive process memory after use and (2) does not free certain structures containing sensitive process memory, which might allow local users to discover private RSA and DSA keys.

Published: 2013-08-19 Last update: 2026-04-29 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2013-4208 is rated Low Risk (14.3/100): CVSS Low severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.06%). Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2013-4208

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-03-17 0.04% 0.06% +0.02%
2 2023-03-07 1.03% 0.04% -0.99%
3 2022-02-04 — 1.03% —

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2013-4208

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
2.1 2.0 LOW
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 3.9 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2013-4208

OS Trackers for CVE-2013-4208

vendor priority summary link
debian low CVE-2013-4208 low priority: Debian including 2 source packages (filezilla, putty), 10 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 10. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2013-4208
gentoo normal CVE-2013-4208: 1 GLSA(s) (201309-08), 1 atom(s) (net-ftp/filezilla); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2013-4208
ubuntu medium CVE-2013-4208 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (putty), 5 status rows across 5 suites (lucid, precise, quantal, raring, upstream): released 4, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2013-4208

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2013-4208

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
putty putty 0.45 cpe:2.3:a:putty:putty:0.45:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
putty putty 0.46 cpe:2.3:a:putty:putty:0.46:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
putty putty 0.47 cpe:2.3:a:putty:putty:0.47:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
putty putty 0.48 cpe:2.3:a:putty:putty:0.48:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
putty putty 0.49 cpe:2.3:a:putty:putty:0.49:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
putty putty 0.50 cpe:2.3:a:putty:putty:0.50:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
putty putty 0.51 cpe:2.3:a:putty:putty:0.51:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
putty putty 0.52 cpe:2.3:a:putty:putty:0.52:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
putty putty 0.53b cpe:2.3:a:putty:putty:0.53b:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
putty putty 0.54 cpe:2.3:a:putty:putty:0.54:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
putty putty 0.55 cpe:2.3:a:putty:putty:0.55:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
putty putty 0.56 cpe:2.3:a:putty:putty:0.56:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
putty putty 0.57 cpe:2.3:a:putty:putty:0.57:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
putty putty 0.58 cpe:2.3:a:putty:putty:0.58:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
putty putty 0.59 cpe:2.3:a:putty:putty:0.59:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
putty putty 0.60 cpe:2.3:a:putty:putty:0.60:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
putty putty 0.61 cpe:2.3:a:putty:putty:0.61:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
simon_tatham putty <= 0.62 cpe:2.3:a:simon_tatham:putty:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
simon_tatham putty 0.53 cpe:2.3:a:simon_tatham:putty:0.53:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2013-4208

cvelogic Threat Intelligence