SSA-850560

Siemens Security Advisory by Siemens ProductCERT

SSA-850560: Use of 4-Digit PIN in SENTRON PAC3200 Devices

Publication Date:	2024-10-08
Last Update:	2024-10-08
Current Version:	V1.0
CVSS v3.1 Base Score:	9.8
CVSS v4.0 Base Score:	9.3

SUMMARY

SENTRON PAC3200 only provide a 4-digit PIN to protect from administrative access via Modbus TCP interface. Attackers with access to the Modbus TCP interface could easily bypass this protection by brute-force attacks or by monitoring the Modbus cleartext communication.

Siemens recommends specific countermeasures for products where fixes are not, or not yet available.

AFFECTED PRODUCTS AND SOLUTION

Un-/Collapse All

Affected Product and Versions	Remediation
SENTRON 7KM PAC3200 All versions affected by CVE-2024-41798	Currently no fix is planned Consider the PIN as protection against unauthorized operation (i.e., protection against inadvertent operating errors), not as protection against malicious access attempts, such as through brute-force attacks; for details see the FAQ article at https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/ww/en/view/109975235/

WORKAROUNDS AND MITIGATIONS

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

SENTRON PAC Meter products are power measuring devices for precise energy management and transparent information acquisition.

VULNERABILITY DESCRIPTION

Un-/Collapse All

This chapter describes all vulnerabilities (CVE-IDs) addressed in this security advisory. Wherever applicable, it also documents the product-specific impact of the individual vulnerabilities.

Vulnerability CVE-2024-41798

Affected devices only provide a 4-digit PIN to protect from administrative access via Modbus TCP interface. Attackers with access to the Modbus TCP interface could easily bypass this protection by brute-force attacks or by sniffing the Modbus clear text communication.

CVSS v3.1 Base Score	9.8
CVSS v3.1 Vector	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS v4.0 Base Score	9.3
CVSS v4.0 Vector	CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CWE	CWE-287: Improper Authentication

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Siemens thanks the following party for its efforts:

Michael Messner and Benedikt Kühne from Siemens Energy for reporting the vulnerability

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The successor product SENTRON 7KM PAC3220 provides an additional hardware switch, that disables administrative write access; only read access is possible from remote. Additionally an extended protection against brute-force attacks is implemented.

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 (2024-10-08):

Publication date

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://www.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.