SSA-629512

Siemens Security Advisory by Siemens ProductCERT

SSA-629512: Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in TIA Portal

Publication Date:	2020-01-14
Last Update:	2022-06-14
Current Version:	V1.5
CVSS v3.1 Base Score:	7.8

SUMMARY

The latest updates for TIA Portal fix a vulnerability that could allow a local attacker to execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges.

Update: The previously provided fixes only correctly set the permissions on English Windows versions.

Siemens is preparing updates and recommends specific countermeasures for products where updates are not, or not yet available.

AFFECTED PRODUCTS AND SOLUTION

Affected Product and Versions	Remediation
TIA Portal V14: All versions	Currently no fix is planned See recommendations from section Workarounds and Mitigations
TIA Portal V15: All versions < V15.1 Update 7	Update to V15.1 Update 7 or later version https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/de/de/view/109763890 See further recommendations from section Workarounds and Mitigations
TIA Portal V16: All versions	Currently no fix is available See recommendations from section Workarounds and Mitigations
TIA Portal V17: All versions < V17 Update 4	Update to V17 Update 4 or later version https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/ww/en/view/109784441 See further recommendations from section Workarounds and Mitigations

WORKAROUNDS AND MITIGATIONS

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

Remove write permissions for every non-administrative user on files and folders located below the “TraceEngine” folder (usually located at “C:\ProgramData\Siemens\Automation”).
A partially working fix for Native Language Windows Versions in English or Multilingual User Interface (MUI) Windows Installation was included in TIA Portal Versions V14 SP1 Update 10, V15 SP1 Update 4,V16 Update 1 and V17.

Product specific remediations or mitigations can be found in the section Affected Products and Solution.

Please follow the General Security Recommendations.

GENERAL SECURITY RECOMMENDATIONS

As a general security measure, Siemens strongly recommends to protect network access to devices with appropriate mechanisms. In order to operate the devices in a protected IT environment, Siemens recommends to configure the environment according to Siemens’ operational guidelines for Industrial Security (Download: https://www.siemens.com/cert/operational-guidelines-industrial-security), and to follow the recommendations in the product manuals.

Additional information on Industrial Security by Siemens can be found at: https://www.siemens.com/industrialsecurity

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

The Totally Integrated Automation Portal (TIA Portal) is a PC software that provides access to the complete range of Siemens digitalized automation services, from digital planning and integrated engineering to transparent operation.

VULNERABILITY CLASSIFICATION

The vulnerability classification has been performed by using the CVSS scoring system in version 3.1 (CVSS v3.1) (https://www.first.org/cvss). The CVSS environmental score is specific to the customer’s environment and will impact the overall CVSS score. The environmental score should therefore be individually defined by the customer to accomplish final scoring.

An additional classification has been performed using the CWE classification, a community-developed list of common software security weaknesses. This serves as a common language and as a baseline for weakness identification, mitigation, and prevention efforts. A detailed list of CWE classes can be found at: https://cwe.mitre.org/.

Vulnerability CVE-2019-10934

Changing the contents of a configuration file could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges.

The security vulnerability could be exploited by an attacker with a valid account and limited access rights on the system. No user interaction is required.

At the time of advisory publication no public exploitation of this security vulnerability was known.

CVSS v3.1 Base Score	7.8
CVSS Vector	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:U/RC:C
CWE:	CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory (‘Path Traversal’)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Siemens thanks the following parties for their efforts:

Abian Blome from Siemens Energy for pointing out, that the initial fix was only partially functional
Wiliam Knowles from Applied Risk for reporting the vulnerability

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

For further inquiries on security vulnerabilities in Siemens products and solutions, please contact the Siemens ProductCERT:

https://www.siemens.com/cert/advisories

HISTORY DATA

V1.0 (2020-01-14): Publication Date

V1.1 (2020-04-14): Added solution for TIA Portal V16

V1.2 (2021-01-12): Added solution for TIA Portal V14

V1.3 (2021-12-14): Errata: Removed solutions: The previously provided fixes only correctly set the permissions on Native Language Windows Versions in English or Multilingual User Interface (MUI) Windows Installations and added TIA Portal V17 as affected product.

V1.4 (2022-05-10): Added solution for TIA Portal V15

V1.5 (2022-06-14): Added fix for TIA Portal V17

Siemens Security Advisories are subject to the terms and conditions contained in Siemens’ underlying license terms or other applicable agreements previously agreed to with Siemens (hereinafter "License Terms"). To the extent applicable to information, software or documentation made available in or through a Siemens Security Advisory, the Terms of Use of Siemens’ Global Website https://new.siemens.com/terms_of_use, hereinafter "Terms of Use"), in particular Sections 8-10 of the Terms of Use, shall apply additionally. In case of conflicts, the License Terms shall prevail over the Terms of Use.

SSA-629512