CVE-2020-7588 in Opcenter Execution Discrete
Summary
by MITRE
A vulnerability has been identified in Opcenter Execution Discrete (All versions < V3.2), Opcenter Execution Foundation (All versions < V3.2), Opcenter Execution Process (All versions < V3.2), Opcenter Intelligence (All versions), Opcenter Quality (All versions < V11.3), Opcenter RD&L (V8.0), SIMATIC IT LMS (All versions), SIMATIC IT Production Suite (All versions), SIMATIC Notifier Server for Windows (All versions), SIMATIC PCS neo (All versions), SIMATIC STEP 7 (TIA Portal) V15 (All versions), SIMATIC STEP 7 (TIA Portal) V16 (All versions < V16 Update 2), SIMOCODE ES (All versions), Soft Starter ES (All versions). Sending a specially crafted packet to the affected service could cause a partial remote Denial-of-Service, that would cause the service to restart itself.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/15/2020
This vulnerability affects multiple Siemens industrial software products including Opcenter Execution Discrete, Foundation, Process, Opcenter Intelligence, Quality, RD&L, SIMATIC IT LMS, Production Suite, Notifier Server, PCS neo, TIA Portal V15 and V16, SIMOCODE ES, and Soft Starter ES. The issue stems from improper handling of specially crafted network packets by affected services, leading to partial remote denial-of-service conditions. The vulnerability represents a critical weakness in industrial control systems where network communication is essential for operational continuity and safety.
The technical flaw manifests when affected services receive malformed network packets that trigger unexpected behavior in the application's packet processing routines. This typically involves buffer overflow conditions or improper input validation that causes the service to crash or restart automatically. The vulnerability operates at the network protocol level where services listen for incoming connections and process data from remote systems. When maliciously crafted packets are transmitted to the affected ports, the service fails to properly validate or sanitize the input data, resulting in abrupt termination and subsequent automatic restart of the service process.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise industrial processes and manufacturing operations. In industrial environments where continuous operation is critical, a service restart can cause production halts, data loss, or disruption of control systems that manage critical manufacturing processes. The remote nature of the attack means that adversaries can exploit this vulnerability from external networks without requiring physical access to the industrial infrastructure, making it particularly dangerous in environments where security boundaries may be weak or non-existent. This vulnerability directly aligns with attack patterns described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1190 technique for Exploit Public-Facing Application, and represents a significant risk to operational technology environments.
Mitigation strategies should focus on implementing network segmentation to isolate critical industrial systems from general network access, applying vendor-provided patches and updates to affected software versions, and configuring network access controls to restrict communication to only necessary sources. Organizations should also implement monitoring solutions to detect unusual service restart patterns or network traffic anomalies that could indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-121 for Stack-based Buffer Overflow and CWE-122 for Heap-based Buffer Overflow, indicating the need for proper memory management practices in industrial software implementations. System administrators should prioritize patching affected versions to V3.2 for Opcenter Execution products and V11.3 for Quality products, while also implementing network-level controls to prevent unauthorized access to industrial services. Regular security assessments of industrial control systems should include vulnerability scanning for similar issues that could affect operational technology infrastructure.