CISA Advisory: Siemens SINEC NMS | CISA

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). 

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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• CVSS v4 9.4
• ATTENTION: Exploitable remotely/low attack complexity
• Vendor: Siemens
• Equipment: SINEC NMS
• Vulnerabilities: Use After Free, Improper Input Validation, Deserialization of Untrusted Data, Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer, Uncontrolled Resource Consumption, Out-of-bounds Read, Improper Restriction of Recursive Entity References in DTDs (‘XML Entity Expansion’), Privilege Dropping / Lowering Errors, Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling, Execution with Unnecessary Privileges, Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory (‘Path Traversal’), Incorrect Authorization

2. RISK EVALUATION

Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability of affected devices

3. TECHNICAL DETAILS

3.1 AFFECTED PRODUCTS

The following products of Siemens, are affected:

• SINEC NMS: versions prior to V3.0

3.2 Vulnerability Overview

3.2.1 USE AFTER FREE CWE-416

A use-after-free flaw was found in mm/mempolicy.c in the memory management subsystem in the Linux Kernel. This issue is caused by a race between mbind() and VMA-locked page fault, and may allow a local attacker to crash the system or lead to a kernel information leak.

CVE-2023-4611 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 6.3 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H).

3.2.2 IMPROPER INPUT VALIDATION CWE-20

A memory disclosure vulnerability was found in PostgreSQL that allows remote users to access sensitive information by exploiting certain aggregate function calls with ‘unknown’-type arguments. Handling ‘unknown’-type values from string literals without type designation can disclose bytes, potentially revealing notable and confidential information. This issue exists due to excessive data output in aggregate function calls, enabling remote users to read some portion of system memory.

CVE-2023-5868 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 4.3 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N).

3.2.3 IMPROPER INPUT VALIDATION CWE-20

A flaw was found in PostgreSQL that allows authenticated database users to execute arbitrary code through missing overflow checks during SQL array value modification. This issue exists due to an integer overflow during array modification where a remote user can trigger the overflow by providing specially crafted data. This enables the execution of arbitrary code on the target system, allowing users to write arbitrary bytes to memory and extensively read the server’s memory.

CVE-2023-5869 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 8.8 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

3.2.4 IMPROPER INPUT VALIDATION CWE-20

A flaw was found in PostgreSQL involving the pg_cancel_backend role that signals background workers, including the logical replication launcher, autovacuum workers, and the autovacuum launcher. Successful exploitation requires a non-core extension with a less-resilient background worker and would affect that specific background worker only. This issue may allow a remote high privileged user to launch a denial of service (DoS) attack.

CVE-2023-5870 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 4.4 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

3.2.5 IMPROPER INPUT VALIDATION CWE-20

A serialization vulnerability in logback receiver component part of logback version 1.4.11 allows an attacker to mount a Denial-Of-Service attack by sending poisoned data.

CVE-2023-6378 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

3.2.6 IMPROPER INPUT VALIDATION CWE-20

A serialization vulnerability in logback receiver component part of logback version 1.4.13, 1.3.13 and 1.2.12 allows an attacker to mount a Denial-Of-Service attack by sending poisoned data

CVE-2023-6481 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

3.2.7 IMPROPER INPUT VALIDATION CWE-20

Out-of-bounds Read vulnerability in mod_macro of Apache HTTP Server. This issue affects Apache HTTP Server: through 2.4.57.

CVE-2023-31122 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

3.2.8 DESERIALIZATION OF UNTRUSTED DATA CWE-502

In spring AMQP versions 1.0.0 to 2.4.16 and 3.0.0 to 3.0.9 , allowed list patterns for deserializable class names were added to Spring AMQP, allowing users to lock down deserialization of data in messages from untrusted sources; however by default, when no allowed list was provided, all classes could be deserialized. Specifically, an application is vulnerable if * the SimpleMessageConverter or SerializerMessageConverter is used * the user does not configure allowed list patterns * untrusted message originators gain permissions to write messages to the RabbitMQ broker to send malicious content.

CVE-2023-34050 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 5.0 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H).

3.2.9 IMPROPER RESTRICTION OF OPERATIONS WITHIN THE BOUNDS OF A MEMORY BUFFER CWE-119

Xmlsoft Libxml2 v2.11.0 was discovered to contain an out-of-bounds read via the xmlSAX2StartElement() function at /libxml2/SAX2.c. This vulnerability allows attackers to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via supplying a crafted XML file. NOTE: the vendor’s position is that the product does not support the legacy SAX1 interface with custom callbacks; there is a crash even without crafted input.

CVE-2023-39615 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 6.5 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

3.2.10 IMPROPER INPUT VALIDATION CWE-20

Incomplete Cleanup vulnerability in Apache Tomcat. The internal fork of Commons FileUpload packaged with Apache Tomcat 9.0.70 through 9.0.80 and 8.5.85 through 8.5.93 included an unreleased, in progress refactoring that exposed a potential denial of service on Windows if a web application opened a stream for an uploaded file but failed to close the stream. The file would never be deleted from disk creating the possibility of an eventual denial of service due to the disk being full. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 9.0.81 onwards or 8.5.94 onwards, which fixes the issue.

CVE-2023-42794 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 5.9 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

3.2.11 IMPROPER INPUT VALIDATION CWE-20

Incomplete Cleanup vulnerability in Apache Tomcat.When recycling various internal objects in Apache Tomcat from 11.0.0-M1 through 11.0.0-M11, from 10.1.0-M1 through 10.1.13, from 9.0.0-M1 through 9.0.80 and from 8.5.0 through 8.5.93, an error could cause Tomcat to skip some parts of the recycling process leading to information leaking from the current request/response to the next. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 11.0.0-M12 onwards, 10.1.14 onwards, 9.0.81 onwards or 8.5.94 onwards, which fixes the issue.

CVE-2023-42795 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 5.3 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N).

3.2.12 IMPROPER INPUT VALIDATION CWE-20

An attacker, opening a HTTP/2 connection with an initial window size of 0, was able to block handling of that connection indefinitely in Apache HTTP Server. This could be used to exhaust worker resources in the server, similar to the well known “slow loris” attack pattern. This has been fixed in version 2.4.58, so that such connection are terminated properly after the configured connection timeout. This issue affects Apache HTTP Server: from 2.4.55 through 2.4.57. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 2.4.58, which fixes the issue.

CVE-2023-43622 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

3.2.13 UNCONTROLLED RESOURCE CONSUMPTION CWE-400

The HTTP/2 protocol allows a denial of service (server resource consumption) because request cancellation can reset many streams quickly, as exploited in the wild in August through October 2023.

CVE-2023-44487 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

A CVSS v4 score has also been calculated for CVE-2023-44487. 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:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N).

3.2.14 IMPROPER INPUT VALIDATION CWE-20

Improper Input Validation vulnerability in Apache Tomcat.Tomcat from 11.0.0-M1 through 11.0.0-M11, from 10.1.0-M1 through 10.1.13, from 9.0.0-M1 through 9.0.81 and from 8.5.0 through 8.5.93 did not correctly parse HTTP trailer headers. A specially crafted, invalid trailer header could cause Tomcat to treat a single request as multiple requests leading to the possibility of request smuggling when behind a reverse proxy. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 11.0.0-M12 onwards, 10.1.14 onwards, 9.0.81 onwards or 8.5.94 onwards, which fix the issue.

CVE-2023-45648 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 5.3 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N).

3.2.15 IMPROPER INPUT VALIDATION CWE-20

When a HTTP/2 stream was reset (RST frame) by a client, there was a time window were the request’s memory resources were not reclaimed immediately. Instead, de-allocation was deferred to connection close. A client could send new requests and resets, keeping the connection busy and open and causing the memory footprint to keep on growing. On connection close, all resources were reclaimed, but the process might run out of memory before that. This was found by the reporter during testing of CVE-2023-44487 (HTTP/2 Rapid Reset Exploit) with their own test client. During “normal” HTTP/2 use, the probability to hit this bug is very low. The kept memory would not become noticeable before the connection closes or times out. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 2.4.58, which fixes the issue.

CVE-2023-45802 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 5.9 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

3.2.16 UNCONTROLLED RESOURCE CONSUMPTION CWE-400

The RabbitMQ Java client library allows Java and JVM-based applications to connect to and interact with RabbitMQ nodes. maxBodyLebgth was not used when receiving Message objects. Attackers could send a very large Message causing a memory overflow and triggering an OOM Error. Users of RabbitMQ may suffer from DoS attacks from RabbitMQ Java client which will ultimately exhaust the memory of the consumer. This vulnerability was patched in version 5.18.0.

CVE-2023-46120 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 4.9 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

3.2.17 OUT-OF-BOUNDS READ CWE-125

The affected applications contain an out of bounds read vulnerability. This could allow an attacker to cause a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) crash of the underlying Windows kernel.

CVE-2023-46280 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 6.5 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H).

A CVSS v4 score has also been calculated for CVE-2023-46280. A base score of 8.2 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:H).

3.2.18 IMPROPER INPUT VALIDATION CWE-20

Improper Input Validation vulnerability in Apache Tomcat.Tomcat from 11.0.0-M1 through 11.0.0-M10, from 10.1.0-M1 through 10.1.15, from 9.0.0-M1 through 9.0.82 and from 8.5.0 through 8.5.95 did not correctly parse HTTP trailer headers. A trailer header that exceeded the header size limit could cause Tomcat to treat a single request as multiple requests leading to the possibility of request smuggling when behind a reverse proxy. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 11.0.0-M11 onwards, 10.1.16 onwards, 9.0.83 onwards or 8.5.96 onwards, which fix the issue.

CVE-2023-46589 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N).

3.2.19 UNCONTROLLED RESOURCE CONSUMPTION CWE-400

libexpat through 2.5.0 allows a denial of service (resource consumption) because many full reparsings are required in the case of a large token for which multiple buffer fills are needed.

CVE-2023-52425 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

3.2.20 IMPROPER RESTRICTION OF RECURSIVE ENTITY REFERENCES IN DTDS (‘XML ENTITY EXPANSION’) CWE-776

libexpat through 2.5.0 allows recursive XML Entity Expansion if XML_DTD is undefined at compile time.

CVE-2023-52426 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 5.5 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

3.2.21 PRIVILEGE DROPPING / LOWERING ERRORS CWE-271

Late privilege drop in REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW CONCURRENTLY in PostgreSQL allows an object creator to execute arbitrary SQL functions as the command issuer. The command intends to run SQL functions as the owner of the materialized view, enabling safe refresh of untrusted materialized views. The victim is a superuser or member of one of the attacker’s roles. The attack requires luring the victim into running REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW CONCURRENTLY on the attacker’s materialized view. Versions before PostgreSQL 16.2, 15.6, 14.11, 13.14, and 12.18 are affected.

CVE-2024-0985 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 8.0 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

3.2.22 USE AFTER FREE CWE-416

An issue was discovered in libxml2 before 2.11.7 and 2.12.x before 2.12.5. When using the XML Reader interface with DTD validation and XInclude expansion enabled, processing crafted XML documents can lead to an xmlValidatePopElement use-after-free.

CVE-2024-25062 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 5.9 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

3.2.23 ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES WITHOUT LIMITS OR THROTTLING CWE-770

nghttp2 is an implementation of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol version 2 in C. The nghttp2 library prior to version 1.61.0 keeps reading the unbounded number of HTTP/2 CONTINUATION frames even after a stream is reset to keep HPACK context in sync. This causes excessive CPU usage to decode HPACK stream. nghttp2 v1.61.0 mitigates this vulnerability by limiting the number of CONTINUATION frames it accepts per stream. There is no workaround for this vulnerability.

CVE-2024-28182 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 5.3 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L).

3.2.24 IMPROPER RESTRICTION OF RECURSIVE ENTITY REFERENCES IN DTDS (‘XML ENTITY EXPANSION’) CWE-776

libexpat through 2.6.1 allows an XML Entity Expansion attack when there is isolated use of external parsers (created via XML_ExternalEntityParserCreate).

CVE-2024-28757 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

3.2.25 EXECUTION WITH UNNECESSARY PRIVILEGES CWE-250

The affected application executes a subset of its services as NT AUTHORITY/SYSTEM. This could allow a local attacker to execute operating system commands with elevated privileges.

CVE-2024-36398 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

A CVSS v4 score has also been calculated for CVE-2024-36398. A base score of 8.5 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N).

3.2.26 IMPROPER LIMITATION OF A PATHNAME TO A RESTRICTED DIRECTORY (‘PATH TRAVERSAL’) CWE-22

The importCertificate function of the SINEC NMS Control web application contains a path traversal vulnerability. This could allow an authenticated attacker it to delete arbitrary certificate files on the drive SINEC NMS is installed on.

CVE-2024-41938 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 5.5 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:L).

A CVSS v4 score has also been calculated for CVE-2024-41938. A base score of 5.1 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:L/SA:L).

3.2.27 INCORRECT AUTHORIZATION CWE-863

The affected application does not properly enforce authorization checks. This could allow an authenticated attacker to bypass the checks and elevate their privileges on the application.

CVE-2024-41939 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 8.8 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

A CVSS v4 score has also been calculated for CVE-2024-41939. A base score of 8.7 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N).

3.2.28 IMPROPER INPUT VALIDATION CWE-20

The affected application does not properly validate user input to a privileged command queue. This could allow an authenticated attacker to execute OS commands with elevated privileges.

CVE-2024-41940 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 9.1 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).

A CVSS v4 score has also been calculated for CVE-2024-41940. A base score of 9.4 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H).

3.2.29 INCORRECT AUTHORIZATION CWE-863

The affected application does not properly enforce authorization checks. This could allow an authenticated attacker to bypass the checks and modify settings in the application without authorization.

CVE-2024-41941 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 4.3 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N).

A CVSS v4 score has also been calculated for CVE-2024-41941. A base score of 5.3 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/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

Siemens reported these vulnerabilities to CISA.

4. MITIGATIONS

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

As a general security measure, Siemens recommends protecting network access to devices with appropriate mechanisms. To operate the devices in a protected IT environment, Siemens recommends configuring the environment according to Siemens’ operational guidelines for industrial security and following recommendations in the product manuals.

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-784301 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). Recognize VPNs may have vulnerabilities, should be updated to the most recent version available, and are 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. 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 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:

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

5. UPDATE HISTORY

• August 15, 2024: Initial Publication