Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released an update to joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) #StopRansomware: Royal Ransomware. The updated advisory provides network defenders with additional information on tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and indicators of compromise (IOCs) associated with Royal ransomware variants. FBI investigations identified these TTPs and IOCs as recently as June 2023.

Royal ransomware attacks have spread across numerous critical infrastructure sectors including, but not limited to, manufacturing, communications, healthcare and public healthcare (HPH), and education.

CISA encourages network defenders to review the updated CSA and to apply the included mitigations. See #StopRansomware for additional guidance on ransomware protection, detection, and response.

CISA has added six new vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, based on evidence of active exploitation.

• CVE-2023-47246 SysAid Server Path Traversal Vulnerability
• CVE-2023-36844 Juniper Junos OS EX Series PHP External Variable Modification Vulnerability
• CVE-2023-36845 Juniper Junos OS EX Series and SRX Series PHP External Variable Modification Vulnerability
• CVE-2023-36846 Juniper Junos OS SRX Series Missing Authentication for Critical Function Vulnerability
• CVE-2023-36847 Juniper Junos OS EX Series Missing Authentication for Critical Function Vulnerability
• CVE-2023-36851 Juniper Junos OS SRX Series Missing Authentication for Critical Function Vulnerability

These types of vulnerabilities are frequent attack vectors for malicious cyber actors and pose significant risks to the federal enterprise. Note: To view other newly added vulnerabilities in the catalog, click on the arrow in the “Date Added to Catalog” column—which will sort by descending dates.

Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 22-01: Reducing the Significant Risk of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities established the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog as a living list of known Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) that carry significant risk to the federal enterprise. BOD 22-01 requires Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies to remediate identified vulnerabilities by the due date to protect FCEB networks against active threats. See the BOD 22-01 Fact Sheet for more information.

Although BOD 22-01 only applies to FCEB agencies, CISA strongly urges all organizations to reduce their exposure to cyberattacks by prioritizing timely remediation of Catalog vulnerabilities as part of their vulnerability management practice. CISA will continue to add vulnerabilities to the catalog that meet the specified criteria.

Today, the Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) and CISA released Business Continuity in a Box. Business Continuity in a Box, developed by ACSC with contributions from CISA, assists organizations with swiftly and securely standing up critical business functions during or following a cyber incident.

Comprised of two core components—Continuity of Communications and Continuity of Applications—Business Continuity in a Box is designed for situations where the availability or integrity of an organization’s data and/or systems has been compromised. The core components focus on keeping communications flowing during an incident and establishing interim business-critical applications.

Business Continuity in a Box aligns with CISA’s goals for Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month which aims to provide businesses of all sizes with free or low-cost resources and tools that aid in strengthening our national cybersecurity posture. 

View CSAF

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• CVSS v3 5.3
• ATTENTION: Exploitable remotely/low attack complexity
• Vendor: Hitachi Energy
• Equipment: eSOMS
• Vulnerabilities: Generation of Error Message Containing Sensitive Information, Exposure of Sensitive System Information to an Unauthorized Control Sphere

2. RISK EVALUATION

Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to disclose sensitive information related to eSOMS application configuration.

3. TECHNICAL DETAILS

3.1 AFFECTED PRODUCTS

The following Hitachi Energy products are affected:

• eSOMS: v6.3.13 and prior

3.2 Vulnerability Overview

3.2.1 GENERATION OF ERROR MESSAGE CONTAINING SENSITIVE INFORMATION CWE-209

The response messages received from the eSOMS report generation using certain parameter queries with full file path can be abused for enumerating the local file system structure.

CVE-2023-5514 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.3 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N).

3.2.2 EXPOSURE OF SENSITIVE INFORMATION TO AN UNAUTHORIZED CONTROL SPHERE CWE-497

The responses for web queries with certain parameters disclose internal path of resources. This information can be used to learn internal structure of the application and to further plot attacks against web servers and deployed web applications.

CVE-2023-5515 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.3 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N).

3.2.3 EXPOSURE OF SENSITIVE INFORMATION TO AN UNAUTHORIZED CONTROL SPHERE CWE-497

Poorly constructed webap requests and URI components with special characters trigger unhandled errors and exceptions, disclosing information about the underlying technology and other sensitive information details. The website unintentionally reveals sensitive information including technical details like version info, endpoints, backend server, Internal IP. etc., which could expose additional attack surface containing other vulnerabilities.

CVE-2023-5516 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.3 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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 recommends updating eSOMS to a fixed version when available.

For more information on this issue, see the Hitachi Energy eSOMS Security Advisory 8DBD000175.

CISA recommends users take defensive measures to minimize the risk of exploitation of this 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

• November 9, 2023: Initial Publication