Matthias Niedermaier and Michael Kapfer of HSASec Hochschule Augsburg have identified authentication vulnerabilities in Phoenix Contact’s ILC (inline controller) PLCs. Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG has produced a mitigation plan that includes an update and recommended security practices to mitigate these vulnerabilities.
These vulnerabilities could be exploited remotely.
Phoenix Contact reports that these vulnerabilities affect the following versions of ILC PLCs:
The identified vulnerabilities could allow an unauthenticated user to access human-machine interface (HMI) pages and to modify programmable logic controller (PLC) variables.
Impact to individual organizations depends on many factors that are unique to each organization. NCCIC/ICS-CERT recommends that organizations evaluate the impact of these vulnerabilities based on their operational environment, architecture, and product implementation.
Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG is a German-based automation company.
The affected products, ILC 1xx PLCs, are inline controllers with an Ethernet interface for coupling to other controllers and systems. According to Phoenix Contact, ILC PLCs are deployed across several sectors including Commercial Facilities, Critical Manufacturing, Energy, and Water and Wastewater Systems. Phoenix Contact estimates that these products are used primarily in Europe, North America, and Asia.
Webvisit offers a password macro to protect HMI pages on the PLC against casual or coincidental opening of HMI pages by the user. The password macro can be configured in a way that the password is stored and transferred in clear text.
CVE-2016-8366b has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.3 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L).c
The web server can be accessed without authenticating even if the authentication mechanism is enabled.
CVE-2016-8371e has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.3 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L).f
The web server allows access to read and write PLC variables without authentication.
CVE-2016-8380h has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.3 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L).i
These vulnerabilities could be exploited remotely.
No known public exploits specifically target these vulnerabilities.
An attacker with a low skill would be able to exploit these vulnerabilities.
Phoenix Contact has released an update for Webvisit to mitigate the plaintext password storage issue. Users may obtain this update by contacting Phoenix Contact customer support at [email protected], or +49 52 81/9 46 28 88 (Germany).
Connecting devices to a network via Ethernet always entails the risk of unauthorized access to the network. Phoenix Contact recommends that users implement an adequate defense–in-depth networking architecture (including the following) for control systems where these devices are operating.
For more information on this vulnerability and the associated update and mitigation strategies, please email Phoenix Contact at the following address:
ICS-CERT reminds organizations to perform proper impact analysis and risk assessment prior to deploying defensive measures.
ICS-CERT also provides a section for control systems security recommended practices on the ICS-CERT web page at: http://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/content/recommended-practices. Several recommended practices are available for reading and download, including Improving Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity with Defense-in-Depth Strategies.
Additional mitigation guidance and recommended practices are publicly available in the ICS‑CERT Technical Information Paper, ICS-TIP-12-146-01B–Targeted Cyber Intrusion Detection and Mitigation Strategies, that is available for download from the ICS-CERT web site (http://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/).
Organizations observing any suspected malicious activity should follow their established internal procedures and report their findings to ICS-CERT for tracking and correlation against other incidents.
Contact Information
For any questions related to this report, please contact the CISA at:
Email: [email protected]
Toll Free: 1-888-282-0870
For industrial control systems cybersecurity information: https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ics
or incident reporting: https://us-cert.cisa.gov/report
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