CVE-2013-2823 in Intelligent Platforms Proficy Hmi
Summary
by MITRE
The (1) Catapult DNP3 I/O driver before 7.2.0.60 and the (2) GE Intelligent Platforms Proficy DNP3 I/O driver before 7.20k, as used in DNPDrv.exe (aka the DNP master station server) in GE Intelligent Platforms Proficy HMI/SCADA - CIMPLICITY and iFIX, allow physically proximate attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop) via crafted input over a serial line.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/16/2017
The vulnerability described in CVE-2013-2823 represents a critical denial of service flaw affecting industrial control systems that utilize DNP3 communication protocols. This issue impacts both the Catapult DNP3 I/O driver versions prior to 7.2.0.60 and the GE Intelligent Platforms Proficy DNP3 I/O driver versions before 7.20k, specifically within the DNPDrv.exe component that serves as the DNP master station server in GE Intelligent Platforms Proficy HMI/SCADA systems including CIMPLICITY and iFIX. The vulnerability manifests when physically proximate attackers can inject specially crafted input data over serial communication lines, leading to an infinite loop condition that effectively crashes the targeted systems.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies in insufficient input validation and error handling within the DNP3 protocol implementation. When the affected drivers receive malformed or specially constructed data packets over serial connections, they fail to properly validate the incoming data structure and respond by entering an infinite loop rather than gracefully handling the unexpected input. This behavior stems from a lack of proper boundary checks and input sanitization mechanisms that should be present in industrial communication protocols to prevent malformed data from causing system instability. The vulnerability is classified as a classic buffer overflow condition or input validation failure that has been categorized under CWE-129 in the Common Weakness Enumeration system, specifically relating to insufficient validation of length of input data.
The operational impact of CVE-2013-2823 extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise the integrity of industrial control systems that rely on continuous operation for safety and process control. In industrial environments, particularly those using SCADA systems like CIMPLICITY and iFIX, the denial of service condition can lead to complete system unavailability, which may result in production shutdowns, safety system failures, or process control interruptions. The proximity requirement for exploitation means that attackers must be physically present within the operational area, but this limitation does not reduce the severity of impact since industrial facilities often have limited physical security controls for internal network segments. The vulnerability creates an attack surface that aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.001 for network denial of service, specifically targeting the availability of industrial control systems.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate patching of affected systems with the vendor-provided updates, specifically versions 7.2.0.60 for Catapult drivers and 7.20k for GE Proficy drivers. Organizations should also implement network segmentation and access controls to limit physical proximity to critical industrial equipment, as well as establish robust monitoring systems to detect unusual communication patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Additional defensive measures include implementing serial line input validation, configuring intrusion detection systems to monitor for malformed DNP3 traffic, and establishing incident response procedures for dealing with potential denial of service attacks in industrial environments. The vulnerability underscores the importance of maintaining up-to-date industrial control system firmware and the necessity of conducting regular security assessments of operational technology infrastructure to identify and remediate similar weaknesses in industrial communication protocols.