As of January 10, 2023, CISA will no longer be updating ICS security advisories for Siemens product vulnerabilities beyond the initial advisory. For the most up-to-date information on vulnerabilities in this advisory, please see Siemens’ ProductCERT Security Advisories (CERT Services | Services | Siemens Global).

View CSAF

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• CVSS v4 9.3
• ATTENTION: Exploitable remotely/low attack complexity
• Vendor: Siemens
• Equipment: CPCI85 for CP-8031/CP-8050, CPCI85, SICORE
• Vulnerabilities: Unverified Password Change, Missing Authentication for Critical Function

2. RISK EVALUATION

Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to perform an unauthorized password reset which could lead to privilege escalation and potential leak of information.

3. TECHNICAL DETAILS

3.1 AFFECTED PRODUCTS

The following Siemens SICAM product versions are affected:

• CPCI85 Central Processing/Communication: All versions prior to V5.40
• SICORE Base system: All versions prior to V1.4.0

3.2 Vulnerability Overview

3.2.1 UNVERIFIED PASSWORD CHANGE CWE-620

The password of administrative accounts of the affected applications can be reset without requiring the knowledge of the current password, given the auto login is enabled. This could allow an unauthorized attacker to obtain administrative access of the affected applications.

CVE-2024-37998 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

A CVSS v4 score has also been calculated for CVE-2024-37998. A base score of 9.3 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N).

3.2.2 MISSING AUTHENTICATION FOR CRITICAL FUNCTION CWE-306

Affected devices allow a remote authenticated user or an unauthenticated user with physical access to downgrade the firmware of the device. This could allow an attacker to downgrade the device to older versions with known vulnerabilities.

CVE-2024-39601 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:N/I:H/A:N).

A CVSS v4 score has also been calculated for CVE-2024-39601. A base score of 7.1 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N).

3.3 BACKGROUND

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

3.4 RESEARCHER

Jan Kaestle from Siemens Energy reported the vulnerability CVE-2024-37998 to Siemens. Steffen Robertz, Gerhard Hechenberger, Stefan Viehböck, and Constantin Schieber-Knöbl from SEC Consult Vulnerability Lab reported the vulnerability CVE-2024-39601 to Siemens.

4. MITIGATIONS

Siemens recommends users to update to the latest version:

• CPCI85 Central Processing/Communication: Update to V5.40 or later
• SICORE Base system: Update to V1.4.0 or later

Siemens has identified the following specific workarounds and mitigations that customers can apply to reduce the risk:

• CVE-2024-37998: Disable the auto login feature

Additional information on industrial security by Siemens can be found on the Siemens industrial security webpage

For more information see the associated Siemens security advisory SSA-071402 in HTML and CSAF.

CISA recommends users take defensive measures to minimize the risk of exploitation of these vulnerabilities, such as:

• Minimize network exposure for all control system devices and/or systems, ensuring they are not accessible from the internet.
• Locate control system networks and remote devices behind firewalls and isolating them from business networks.
• When remote access is required, use more secure methods, such as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), recognizing VPNs may have vulnerabilities and should be updated to the most current version available. Also recognize VPN is only as secure as the connected devices.

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 these vulnerabilities has been reported to CISA at this time.

5. UPDATE HISTORY

• July 25, 2024: Initial Publication

Today, CISA—in partnership with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)—released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory, North Korea State-Sponsored Cyber Group Conducts Global Espionage Campaign to Advance Regime’s Military and Nuclear Programs. The advisory was coauthored with the following organizations:

• U.S. Cyber National Mission Force (CNMF);
• U.S. Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3);
• U.S. National Security Agency (NSA);
• Republic of Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS);
• Republic of Korea’s National Police Agency (NPA); and
• United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

This advisory was crafted to highlight cyber espionage activity associated with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)’s Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB) 3rd Bureau based in Pyongyang and Sinuiju. The group primarily targets defense, aerospace, nuclear, and engineering entities to obtain sensitive and classified technical information and intellectual property to advance the regime’s military and nuclear programs and ambitions.

The authoring agencies believe the group and the cyber techniques remain an ongoing threat to various industry sectors worldwide, including but not limited to entities in their respective countries, as well as in Japan and India.

All critical infrastructure organizations are encouraged to review the advisory and implement the recommended mitigations. For more information on North Korean state-sponsored threat actor activity, see CISA’s North Korea Cyber Threat Overview and Advisories page.

Andariel actors fund their espionage activity through ransomware operations against U.S. healthcare entities. For more information on this ransomware activity, see joint advisories #StopRansomware: Ransomware Attacks on Critical Infrastructure Fund DPRK Malicious Cyber Activities and North Korean State-Sponsored Cyber Actors Use Maui Ransomware to Target the Healthcare and Public Health Sector.

View CSAF

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• CVSS v4 8.7
• ATTENTION: Exploitable remotely/low attack complexity/public exploits are available
• Vendor: Positron S.R.L
• Equipment: Broadcast Signal Processor TRA7005
• Vulnerability: Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel

2. RISK EVALUATION

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to bypass authentication and access unauthorized protected areas of the application.

3. TECHNICAL DETAILS

3.1 AFFECTED PRODUCTS

The following versions of Positron Broadcast Signal Processor are affected:

• Broadcast Signal Processor TRA7005: v1.20

3.2 Vulnerability Overview

3.2.1 AUTHENTICATION BYPASS USING AN ALTERNATE PATH OR CHANNEL CWE-288

Positron Broadcast Signal Processor TRA7005 v1.20 is vulnerable to an authentication bypass exploit that could allow an attacker to have unauthorized access to protected areas of the application.

CVE-2024-7007 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N).

A CVSS v4 score has also been calculated for CVE-2024-7007. A base score of 8.7 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N).

3.3 BACKGROUND

• CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTORS: Communications
• COUNTRIES/AREAS DEPLOYED: Italy
• COMPANY HEADQUARTERS LOCATION: Italy

3.4 RESEARCHER

CISA discovered a public proof of concept (PoC) as authored by Gjoko Krstic and reported it to Positron.

4. MITIGATIONS

Positron has not responded to requests to work with CISA to mitigate this vulnerability. Users of affected versions of TRA7005 are invited to contact Positron customer support for additional information.

CISA recommends users take defensive measures to minimize the risk of exploitation of this vulnerability, such as:

• Minimize network exposure for all control system devices and/or systems, ensuring they are not accessible from the internet.
• Locate control system networks and remote devices behind firewalls and isolating them from business networks.
• When remote access is required, use more secure methods, such as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), recognizing VPNs may have vulnerabilities and should be updated to the most current version available. Also recognize VPN is only as secure as the connected devices.

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

• July 25, 2024: Initial Publication

View CSAF

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• CVSS v3 7.5
• ATTENTION: Exploitable remotely/low attack complexity
• Vendor: Hitachi Energy
• Equipment: AFS650, AFS660, AFS665, AFS670, AFS675, AFS677, AFR677
• Vulnerabilities: Type Confusion, Use After Free, Double Free, Observable Discrepancy

2. RISK EVALUATION

Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to create a denial-of-service condition.

3. TECHNICAL DETAILS

3.1 AFFECTED PRODUCTS

The following versions of Hitachi Energy AFS/AFR are affected:

• AFS650: Version 9.1.08 and prior
• AFS660-C: Version 7.1.05 and prior
• AFS665-B: Version 7.1.05 and prior
• AFS670-V2: Version 7.1.05 and prior
• AFS670: Version 9.1.08 and prior
• AFS675: Version 9.1.08 and prior
• AFS677: Version 9.1.08 and prior
• AFR677: Version 9.1.08 and prior

3.2 Vulnerability Overview

3.2.1 ACCESS OF RESOURCE USING INCOMPATIBLE TYPE (‘TYPE CONFUSION’) CWE-843

There is a type confusion vulnerability relating to X.400 address processing inside an X.509 GeneralName. X.400 addresses were parsed as an ASN1_STRING but the public structure definition for GENERAL_NAME incorrectly specified the type of the x400Address field as ASN1_TYPE. For more details check the NVD link.

CVE-2023-0286 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.4 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H).

3.2.2 USE AFTER FREE CWE-416

The public API function BIO_new_NDEF is a helper function used for streaming ASN.1 data via a BIO. It is primarily used internally to OpenSSL to support the SMIME, CMS and PKCS7 streaming capabilities, but may also be called directly by end user applications. 

CVE-2023-0215 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

3.2.3 DOUBLE FREE CWE-415

The function PEM_read_bio_ex() reads a PEM file from a BIO and parses and decodes the “name” (e.g.”CERTIFICATE”), any header data and the payload data. If the function succeeds then the “name_out”, “header” and “data” arguments are populated with pointers to buffers containing the relevant decoded data. 

CVE-2022-4450 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

3.2.4 OBSERVABLE DISCREPANCY CWE-203

A timing based side channel exists in the OpenSSL RSA Decryption implementation which could be sufficient to recover a plaintext across a network in a Bleichenbacher style attack. To achieve a successful decryption an attacker would have to be able to send a very large number of trial messages for decryption. The vulnerability affects all RSA padding modes: PKCS#1 v1.5, RSA-OEAP and RSASVE.

CVE-2022-4304 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.9 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N).

3.3 BACKGROUND

• CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTORS: Energy
• COUNTRIES/AREAS DEPLOYED: Worldwide
• COMPANY HEADQUARTERS LOCATION: Switzerland

3.4 RESEARCHER

Hitachi Energy reported these vulnerabilities to CISA.

4. MITIGATIONS

Hitachi Energy has released the following mitigations/fixes:

• AFS650: Update to AFS 650 firmware version 9.1.10
• AFS660-C, AFS665-B, AFS670-V2: Update to AFS 66x firmware version 7.1.08
• AFS670/675/677, AFR677: Update to AFS/AFR 67x firmware version 9.1.10

In addition, recommended security practices and firewall configurations can help protect a process control network from attacks that originate from outside the network. Such practices include that process control systems are physically protected from direct access by unauthorized personnel, have no direct connections to the Internet, and are separated from other networks by means of a firewall system that has a minimal number of ports exposed, and others that have to be evaluated case by case. Process control systems should not be used for Internet surfing, instant messaging, or receiving e-mails. Portable computers and removable storage media should be carefully scanned for viruses before they are connected to a control system.

For more information, see Hitachi Energy’s Cybersecurity Advisory.

CISA recommends users take defensive measures to minimize the risk of exploitation of these vulnerabilities, such as:

• Minimize network exposure for all control system devices and/or systems, ensuring they are not accessible from the internet.
• Locate control system networks and remote devices behind firewalls and isolating them from business networks.
• When remote access is required, use more secure methods, such as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), recognizing VPNs may have vulnerabilities and should be updated to the most current version available. Also recognize VPN is only as secure as the connected devices.

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.

CISA also recommends users take the following measures to protect themselves from social engineering attacks:

• Do not click web links or open attachments in unsolicited email messages.
• Refer to Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams for more information on avoiding email scams.
• Refer to Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks for more information on social engineering attacks.

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

5. UPDATE HISTORY

• July 23, 2024: Initial Publication

Note: CISA will update this Alert with more information as it becomes available.

Update 7:30 p.m., EDT, July 19, 2024: 

• The CrowdStrike guidance is updated with additional guidance regarding impacts to specific environments, e.g., Azure, AWS. 
• For additional information:
  • Update from the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-UK)
  • Update from the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC)
  • Update from the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS)
• Threat actors continue to use the widespread IT outage for phishing and other malicious activity. CISA urges organizations to ensure they have robust cybersecurity measures to protect their users, assets, and data against this activity.

CISA continues to monitor the situation and will update this Alert to provide continued support.

Initial Alert (11:30 a.m., EDT, July 19, 2024):

CISA is aware of the widespread outage affecting Microsoft Windows hosts due to an issue with a recent CrowdStrike update and is working closely with CrowdStrike and federal, state, local, tribal and territorial (SLTT) partners, as well as critical infrastructure and international partners to assess impacts and support remediation efforts. CrowdStrike has confirmed the outage:

• Impacts Windows 10 and later systems.
• Does not impact Mac and Linux hosts.
• Is due to the CrowdStrike Falcon content update and not to malicious cyber activity.

According to CrowdStrike, the issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed. CrowdStrike customer organizations should reference CrowdStrike guidance and their customer portal to resolve the issue.

Of note, CISA has observed threat actors taking advantage of this incident for phishing and other malicious activity. CISA urges organizations and individuals to remain vigilant and only follow instructions from legitimate sources. CISA recommends organizations to remind their employees to avoid clicking on phishing emails or suspicious links.