A high-impact vulnerability has been identified in a wide range of Siemens SIMATIC and TIA Portal products, affecting multiple versions of the software. This critical security flaw could potentially allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code within the affected application, leading to severe consequences in terms of system security and stability.
Vulnerability Details
The identified vulnerability lies in a failure to properly sanitize user-controllable input when parsing log files. This improper input validation can lead to type confusion, which in turn enables an attacker to craft malicious log files with the potential to execute arbitrary code within the affected application.
For example, a code snippet demonstrating the inadvertent type confusion might look like this
function parseLogFile(input) {
var log = JSON.parse(input);
var timestamp = log.timestamp;
// Type confusion occurs here
processEvent(timestamp, log);
}
Original References
Siemens has acknowledged this vulnerability in their security advisory SSA-866332 and has provided updates for the affected products to fix this issue. The updates can be found in the following links:
- SIMATIC S7-PLCSIM V16 and V17
- SIMATIC STEP 7 Safety V16-19
- SIMATIC STEP 7, WinCC, WinCC Unified, Startdrive, and SCOUT
As a user of these affected products, it is strongly recommended to apply the available updates as soon as possible to remediate this vulnerability.
Exploit Details
There are currently no known exploits targeting this specific vulnerability in the wild. However, considering the potential impact of arbitrary code execution in these widely-used industrial control and automation software products, it is important to remain vigilant and proactive in patching or updating the affected software. This will help to reduce the risk of exploitation by attackers who may become aware of this vulnerability in the future.
Conclusion
The discovery of CVE-2024-49849 highlights the importance of thorough security auditing and testing in the development of critical software systems like those used in industrial control and automation. All users of the affected Siemens products should take steps to update their software promptly and ensure that their systems are protected against this type of attack.
Timeline
Published on: 12/10/2024 14:30:44 UTC