CriticalCVE-2022-38465

    Siemens SIMATIC Drive Controller family: Insufficiently Protected Credentials (CVE-2022-38465)

    Published Sources: Siemens ProductCERT, CVE.org

    What is affected, what to do

    A vulnerability has been identified in SIMATIC Drive Controller family (All versions < V2.9.2), SIMATIC ET 200SP Open Controller CPU 1515SP PC (incl. SIPLUS variants) (All versions), SIMATIC ET 200SP Open Controller CPU 1515SP PC2 (incl.

    Update simatic_s7-1500_software_controller to version 21.9.

    Affected
    • Siemens SIMATIC Drive Controller family eq All versions < V2.9.2..All versions < V2.9.2
    • Siemens SIMATIC ET 200SP Open Controller CPU 1515SP PC (incl. SIPLUS variants) eq All versions..All versions
    • Siemens SIMATIC ET 200SP Open Controller CPU 1515SP PC2 (incl. SIPLUS variants) eq All versions < V21.9..All versions < V21.9
    • Siemens SIMATIC S7-1200 CPU family (incl. SIPLUS variants) eq All versions < V4.5.0..All versions < V4.5.0
    • Siemens SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU family (incl. related ET200 CPUs and SIPLUS variants) eq All versions < V2.9.2..All versions < V2.9.2
    • Siemens SIMATIC S7-1500 Software Controller eq All versions < V21.9..All versions < V21.9
    • Siemens SIMATIC S7-PLCSIM Advanced eq All versions < V4.0..All versions < V4.0
    • Siemens SINUMERIK MC eq All versions < V6.21..All versions < V6.21
    • Siemens SINUMERIK ONE eq All versions < V6.21..All versions < V6.21

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    9.3

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: Vendor (CNA), CVSS v3

    9.3

    CVSS v3

    Severity Critical on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: Siemens ProductCERT, CVE.org

    0.2 %

    EPSS score

    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 15.3

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    Critical
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    49.89 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    no public PoC known
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    9.3 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    9.3
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

    Read in glossary
    0.2 %
    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

    Read in glossary
    15.3
    Elevated — this CVE ranks above at least 10% of all CVEs scored today.
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    —
    Published
    CISA assessment (SSVC)
    Exploitation: none known · not automatable · Technical impact: total
    Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 18 April 2025
    CWE

    CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect.

    Read in glossary
    CWE-522

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    High technical severity: assess and remediate the vulnerability in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2 and document the decision.
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    A vulnerability has been identified in SIMATIC Drive Controller family (All versions < V2.9.2), SIMATIC ET 200SP Open Controller CPU 1515SP PC (incl. SIPLUS variants) (All versions), SIMATIC ET 200SP Open Controller CPU 1515SP PC2 (incl. SIPLUS variants) (All versions < V21.9), SIMATIC S7-1200 CPU family (incl. SIPLUS variants) (All versions < V4.5.0), SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU family (incl. related ET200 CPUs and SIPLUS variants) (All versions < V2.9.2), SIMATIC S7-1500 Software Controller (All versions < V21.9), SIMATIC S7-PLCSIM Advanced (All versions < V4.0), SINUMERIK MC (All versions < V6.21), SINUMERIK ONE (All versions < V6.21). Affected products protect the built-in global private key in a way that cannot be considered sufficient any longer. The key is used for the legacy protection of confidential configuration data and the legacy PG/PC and HMI communication. This could allow attackers to discover the private key of a CPU product family by an offline attack against a single CPU of the family. Attackers could then use this knowledge to extract confidential configuration data from projects that are protected by that key or to perform attacks against legacy PG/PC and HMI communication.

    Source: siemens_advisory, NVD (NIST), cvelistv5

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    SiemensSIMATIC Drive Controller family
    • All versions < V2.9.2
    • —
    SiemensSIMATIC ET 200SP Open Controller CPU 1515SP PC (incl. SIPLUS variants)
    • All versions
    • —
    SiemensSIMATIC ET 200SP Open Controller CPU 1515SP PC2 (incl. SIPLUS variants)
    • All versions < V21.9
    • —
    SiemensSIMATIC S7-1200 CPU family (incl. SIPLUS variants)
    • All versions < V4.5.0
    • —
    SiemensSIMATIC S7-1500 CPU family (incl. related ET200 CPUs and SIPLUS variants)
    • All versions < V2.9.2
    • —
    SiemensSIMATIC S7-1500 Software Controller
    • All versions < V21.9
    • —
    SiemensSIMATIC S7-PLCSIM Advanced
    • All versions < V4.0
    • —
    SiemensSINUMERIK MC
    • All versions < V6.21
    • —
    SiemensSINUMERIK ONE
    • All versions < V6.21
    • —
    siemenssimatic_s7-1500_software_controller
    • < 21.9
    • 21.9

    Vendors and products

    Affected operating systems

    Affected operating systems
    Othersiemenssimatic_drive_controller_cpu_1504d_tf_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_drive_controller_cpu_1507d_tf_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_et_200_sp_open_controller_cpu_1515sp_pc2_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_et_200_sp_open_controller_cpu_1515sp_pc_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1200_cpu_12_1211c_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1200_cpu_12_1212c_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1200_cpu_12_1212fc_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1200_cpu_12_1214c_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1200_cpu_12_1214fc_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1200_cpu_12_1215c_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1200_cpu_12_1215fc_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1200_cpu_12_1217c_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1500_cpu_1510sp-1_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1500_cpu_1510sp_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1500_cpu_1511-1_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1500_cpu_1511t-1_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1500_cpu_1511tf-1_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1500_cpu_1512c-1_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1500_cpu_1512sp-1_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1500_cpu_1512spf-1_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1500_cpu_1513-1_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1500_cpu_1513f-1_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1500_cpu_1513r-1_firmware—
    Othersiemenssimatic_s7-1500_cpu_1515-2_firmware—

    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-522Insufficiently Protected Credentials

      Class

      The product transmits or stores authentication credentials, but it uses an insecure method that is susceptible to unauthorized interception and/or retrieval.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-522

    References & sources

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    Badge preview for CVE-2022-38465
    <a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2022-38465"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2022-38465.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2022-38465 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>