CVE-2019-9012 in CODESYS Control V3
Summary
by MITRE
An issue was discovered in 3S-Smart CODESYS V3 products. A crafted communication request may cause uncontrolled memory allocations in the affected CODESYS products and may result in a denial-of-service condition. All variants of the following CODESYS V3 products in all versions prior to v3.5.14.20 that contain the CmpGateway component are affected, regardless of the CPU type or operating system: CODESYS Control for BeagleBone, CODESYS Control for emPC-A/iMX6, CODESYS Control for IOT2000, CODESYS Control for Linux, CODESYS Control for PFC100, CODESYS Control for PFC200, CODESYS Control for Raspberry Pi, CODESYS Control V3 Runtime System Toolkit, CODESYS Gateway V3, CODESYS V3 Development System.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/26/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2019-9012 represents a critical memory management flaw within 3S-Smart CODESYS V3 products that exposes systems to potential denial-of-service attacks through uncontrolled memory allocation. This vulnerability specifically affects the CmpGateway component across multiple CODESYS Control and Gateway products, creating a pathway for malicious actors to exhaust system resources and disrupt normal operations. The flaw exists in all versions prior to v3.5.14.20, making a wide range of industrial control systems susceptible to exploitation regardless of their underlying hardware architecture or operating system environment.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and memory allocation controls within the communication handling mechanisms of the affected CODESYS products. When a crafted communication request is processed, the system fails to properly constrain memory allocation requests, leading to excessive memory consumption that can eventually overwhelm system resources and cause the affected applications to terminate or become unresponsive. This behavior aligns with CWE-772, which addresses insufficient resource management, and demonstrates how improper handling of external inputs can lead to resource exhaustion attacks. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and leverages the gateway component's communication processing capabilities to amplify its impact across various industrial control platforms.
From an operational standpoint, this vulnerability poses significant risks to industrial environments where CODESYS products are deployed for critical control applications. The denial-of-service condition can result in complete system unavailability, potentially disrupting production processes, automation workflows, and real-time control operations. The affected products span multiple hardware platforms including BeagleBone, Raspberry Pi, embedded processors, and industrial IoT devices, indicating that the vulnerability could impact diverse industrial control scenarios from small embedded systems to large-scale industrial automation deployments. The lack of platform-specific constraints means that organizations using any of the listed CODESYS products are at risk, regardless of their operational environment or security controls.
Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation by upgrading all affected CODESYS V3 products to version 3.5.14.20 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address the memory allocation vulnerabilities. System administrators should also implement network segmentation and access controls to limit exposure of affected systems to untrusted networks or users. Monitoring for unusual memory consumption patterns and implementing intrusion detection systems can help identify exploitation attempts. The vulnerability's classification under ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for network denial of service indicates that organizations should consider this threat in their broader cybersecurity strategies, particularly in industrial environments where operational technology systems are increasingly connected to corporate networks. Regular vulnerability assessments and security audits should be conducted to identify and remediate similar memory management issues across industrial control system deployments.