Urgent Siemens Update: Addressing SIMATIC’s Near-Perfect CVSS Scores

Siemens has released two new advisories to inform customers about four vulnerabilities, which include two critical vulnerabilities (CVE-2023-51438 and CVE-2023-49621) in their SIMATIC IPC and SIMATIC NC 4100 products. The vulnerabilities have a Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score of 10 and 9.8 out of 10, respectively.

CVE-2023-51438, with a CVSS score of a perfect 10, unveils an alarming scenario where improper input validation could swing open the gates for unauthorized access. This flaw affects maxViewStorageManager versions before 4.14.00.26068.

CVE-2023-49621, slightly less severe at 9.8, highlights the perils of improperly managed default admin credentials, potentially leading to unauthorized root access or crippling denial-of-service attacks. This flaw affects SIMATIC CN 4100 versions before 2.7.

The industrial giant has informed customers about high-severity vulnerabilities in SIMATIC CN 4100 devices, including:

• CVE-2023-49251 (CVSS 8.8): The “intermediate installation” system state of the affected application allows an attacker to add their login credentials to the device. This allows an attacker to remotely login as root and take control of the device even after the affected device is fully set up.
• CVE-2023-49252 (CVSS 7.5): The affected application allows IP configuration change without authentication to the device. This could allow an attacker to cause a denial of service condition.

Users and administrators of affected product versions are advised to upgrade to the latest versions immediately.