Siemens SIMATIC S7-1200 Improper Authentication (CVE-2021-37172)

high Tenable OT Security Plugin ID 500575

Synopsis

The remote OT asset is affected by a vulnerability.

Description

A vulnerability has been identified in SIMATIC S7-1200 CPU family (incl. SIPLUS variants) (V4.5.0). Affected devices fail to authenticate against configured passwords when provisioned using TIA Portal V13. This could allow an attacker using TIA Portal V13 or later versions to bypass authentication and download arbitrary programs to the PLC. The vulnerability does not occur when TIA Portal V13 SP1 or any later version was used to provision the device. This plugin only works with Tenable.ot. Please visit https://www.tenable.com/products/tenable-ot for more information.

Solution

The following text was originally created by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The original can be found at CISA.gov.

Siemens has released updates for the following products:

- S7-1200 CPU family (incl. SIPLUS variants): Update to v4.5.1 or later version

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

- Update to TIA Portal v13 SP1 or any later version before provisioning S7-1200 v4.5.0 devices.

As a general security measure, Siemens strongly recommends users protect network access to devices with appropriate mechanisms. In order to operate the devices in a protected IT environment, Siemens recommends users configure the environment according to Siemens’ operational guidelines for industrial security and follow the recommendations in the product manuals.

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

For more information about this issue, please see Siemens Security Advisory SSA-830194

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 500575

Version: 1.8

Type: remote

Family: Tenable.ot

Published: 2/7/2022

Updated: 3/4/2024

Supported Sensors: Tenable OT Security

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Low

Score: 3.6

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5

Temporal Score: 3.7

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2021-37172

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.5

Temporal Score: 6.5

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:siemens:simatic_s7-1200_cpu_firmware:4.5.0

Required KB Items: Tenable.ot/Siemens

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 8/10/2021

Vulnerability Publication Date: 8/10/2021

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2021-37172

CWE: 287

Detections

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