February 2024

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CVSS v3 6.5
ATTENTION: Exploitable remotely/low attack complexity
Vendor: Mitsubishi Electric
Equipment: MELSEC iQ-R Series Safety CPU and SIL2 Process CPU Module
Vulnerability: Incorrect Privilege Assignment

2. RISK EVALUATION

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow a non-administrator user to disclose the credentials (user ID and password) of a user with a lower access level than themselves.

3. TECHNICAL DETAILS

3.1 AFFECTED PRODUCTS

Mitsubishi Electric reports that the following MELSEC iQ-R Series products are affected:

MELSEC iQ-R Series Safety CPU R08SFCPU: All versions
MELSEC iQ-R Series Safety CPU R16SFCPU: All versions
MELSEC iQ-R Series Safety CPU R32SFCPU: All versions
MELSEC iQ-R Series Safety CPU R120SFCPU: All versions
MELSEC iQ-R Series SIL2 Process CPU R08PSFCPU: All versions
MELSEC iQ-R Series SIL2 Process CPU R16PSFCPU: All versions
MELSEC iQ-R Series SIL2 Process CPU R32PSFCPU: All versions
MELSEC iQ-R Series SIL2 Process CPU R120PSFCPU: All versions

3.2 Vulnerability Overview

3.2.1 INCORRECT PRIVILEGE ASSIGNMENT CWE-266

Information disclosure vulnerability due to incorrect privilege assignment exists in MELSEC iQ-R Series Safety CPU and SIL2 Process CPU modules. After a remote attacker logs into the CPU module as a non-administrator user, the attacker may disclose the credentials (user ID and password) of a user with a lower access level than the attacker by sending a specially crafted packet.

CVE-2023-6815 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.5 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N).

3.3 BACKGROUND

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTORS: Critical Manufacturing
COUNTRIES/AREAS DEPLOYED: Worldwide
COMPANY HEADQUARTERS LOCATION: Japan

3.4 RESEARCHER

Reid Wightman of Dragos Inc. reported this vulnerability to Mitsubishi Electric.

4. MITIGATIONS

When MELSEC iQ-R Series Safety CPU versions 27 or later is used with GX Works3 versions 1.087R or later, this attack can be prevented by enabling “communicating with only the enhanced version of vulnerability management of GX Works3” when writing user information to the CPU module. Mitsubishi Electric will implement the workaround in other products in the near future. Please contact your local Mitsubishi Electric representative to update your CPU module to the one listed above.

Mitsubishi Electric recommends that users take the following mitigation measures to minimize the risk of exploiting this vulnerability:

Use a firewall or virtual private network (VPN), etc., to prevent unauthorized access when Internet access is required.
Use within a LAN and block access from untrusted networks and hosts through firewalls.
Use IP filter function to block access from untrusted hosts. For details on the IP filter function, please refer to the following manual for each product. “1.13 Security” – “IP filter” in the MELSEC iQ-R Ethernet User’s Manual (Application).
Restrict physical access to the affected product as well as to the personal computers and the network devices that can communicate with it.
Install antivirus software on your personal computer that can access the affected product.

For specific update instructions and additional details, see Mitsubishi Electric advisory 2023-021.

CISA recommends users take defensive measures to minimize the risk of exploitation of this vulnerability. CISA reminds organizations to perform proper impact analysis and risk assessment prior to deploying defensive measures.

CISA also provides a section for control systems security recommended practices on the ICS webpage on cisa.gov/ics. Several CISA products detailing cyber defense best practices are available for reading and download, including Improving Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity with Defense-in-Depth Strategies.

CISA encourages organizations to implement recommended cybersecurity strategies for proactive defense of ICS assets.

Additional mitigation guidance and recommended practices are publicly available on the ICS webpage at cisa.gov/ics in the technical information paper, ICS-TIP-12-146-01B–Targeted Cyber Intrusion Detection and Mitigation Strategies.

Organizations observing suspected malicious activity should follow established internal procedures and report findings to CISA for tracking and correlation against other incidents.

No known public exploitation specifically targeting this vulnerability has been reported to CISA at this time.

5. UPDATE HISTORY

February 13, 2024: Initial Publication

If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for February 13, 2024 read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is medium difficulty; I got it in four. Beware, there are spoilers below for February 13, Wordle #969! Keep scrolling if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Wordle game.

How to play Wordle

Wordle lives here on the New York Times website. A new puzzle goes live every day at midnight, your local time.

Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green if they’re correct, yellow if you have the right letter in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isn’t in the day’s secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here, and my strategy guide here for more advanced tips. (We also have more information at the bottom of this post, after the hints and answers.)

Ready for the hints? Let’s go!

Does today’s Wordle have any unusual letters?

We’ll define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters’ phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it “Edwin Shirdloo,” like a name, and pretend he’s a friend of yours.)

They’re almost all common letters today! Three of them are in our mnemonic, and two letters that aren’t but are also fairly common. No unusual letters today.

Can you give me a hint for today’s Wordle?

Get outta here!

Does today’s Wordle have any double or repeated letters?

There are no repeated letters today.

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

There is one vowel today.

What letter does today’s Wordle start with?

Today’s word starts with S.

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

Today’s word ends with M.

What is the solution to today’s Wordle?

Ready? Today’s word is SCRAM.

How I solved today’s Wordle

After ARISE and TOUCH, I took a guess at SC being an opening combination, so tried SCARY. That confirmed A as the only vowel and the fourth letter, which made SCRAM or SCRAP the likely solutions.

Wordle 969 4/6

🟨🟨⬛🟨⬛
⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛
🟩🟩🟨🟨⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

A primer on Wordle basics

The idea of Wordle is to guess the day’s secret word. When you first open the Wordle game, you’ll see an empty grid of letters. It’s up to you to make the first move: type in any five-letter word.

Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to get clues about the word:

Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and it’s in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)
Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)
Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)

With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then it’s game over.

The best starter words for Wordle

What should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, that’s still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isn’t a single “best” starting word, but the New York Times’s Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:

CRANE
TRACE
SLANT
CRATE
CARTE

Meanwhile, an MIT analysis found that you’ll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:

SALET
REAST
TRACE
CRATE
SLATE

Other good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that it’s better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.

How to win at Wordle

We have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if you’re a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.

The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, don’t waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.

One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldn’t have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.

Wordle alternatives

If you can’t get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:

Wheeldle, which lets you play one puzzle after another
Dordle and Quordle, which ask you to play two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles at the same time, with the same guesses. There is also Octordle, with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.
Waffle, which shows you several five-letter words, scrambled in a grid; you play by swapping the letters around until you solve.
Absurdle, which changes the solution after each guess, but needs to stay consistent with its previous feedback. You have to strategically back it into a corner until there is only one possible word left; then you guess it, and win.
Squabble, in which you play Wordle against other people with a timer running. You take damage if you spend too much time between guesses; winner is the last one standing.

Antiwordle, in which you are trying not to guess the day’s solution. You’re required to reuse any letters that you (oops) guessed correctly, so the longer it takes you, the better you are at the game.

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Mitsubishi Electric MELSEC iQ-R Series Safety CPU