HighCVE-2023-48363

Siemens SIMATIC WinCC Runtime Professional V18: NULL Pointer Dereference (CVE-2023-48363)

Published 13.02.2024Sources: CVE.org, Siemens ProductCERT

What is affected, what to do

A vulnerability has been identified in OpenPCS 7 V9.1 (All versions < V9.1 SP2 UC05), SIMATIC BATCH V9.1 (All versions < V9.1 SP2 UC05), SIMATIC PCS 7 V9.1 (All versions < V9.1 SP2 UC05), SIMATIC Route Control V9.1 (All versions < V9.1 SP2 UC05), SIMATIC WinCC Runtime Professional V18 (All versions < V18 Update 4), SIMATIC WinCC Runtime Professional V19 (All versions < V19 Update 2), SIMATIC WinCC V7.4 (All versions), SIMATIC WinCC V7.5 (All versions < V7.5 SP2 Update 15), SIMATIC WinCC V8.0 (All versions < V8.0 Update 4). The implementation of the RPC (Remote Procedure call) communication protocol in the affected products do not properly handle certain unorganized RPC messages.

The available sources name no fixed version. Check the vendor guidance in the references below.

Affected: Siemens OpenPCS 7 V9.1 eq All versions < V9.1 SP2 UC05..All versions < V9.1 SP2 UC05
Siemens SIMATIC BATCH V9.1 eq All versions < V9.1 SP2 UC05..All versions < V9.1 SP2 UC05
Siemens SIMATIC Route Control V9.1 eq All versions < V9.1 SP2 UC05..All versions < V9.1 SP2 UC05

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Metrics

7.1

Priority

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

Source: Vendor (CNA), CVSS v4

6.5

CVSS v3

Severity Medium on the scale from 0 to 10.

Source: CVE.org, Siemens ProductCERT

0.3 %

EPSS score

Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 19.3

Show all metrics

Severity: High
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: 42.94 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: 7.1 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: 6.5
CVSS v4 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: 7.1
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: 0.3 %; 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: 19.3; 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: 13.02.2024
CISA assessment (SSVC): Exploitation: none known · not automatable · Technical impact: partial; Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 13 February 2024
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-476

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

Source: NVD (NIST), siemens_advisory, cvelistv5

Affected products

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

Affected products
		Affected versions	Fixed in
Siemens	OpenPCS 7 V9.1	`All versions < V9.1 SP2 UC05`	—
Siemens	SIMATIC BATCH V9.1	`All versions < V9.1 SP2 UC05`	—
Siemens	SIMATIC PCS 7 V9.1	`—`	—
Siemens	SIMATIC Route Control V9.1	`All versions < V9.1 SP2 UC05`	—
Siemens	SIMATIC WinCC Runtime Professional V18	`—`	—
Siemens	SIMATIC WinCC Runtime Professional V19	`—`	—
Siemens	SIMATIC WinCC V7.4	`—`	—
Siemens	SIMATIC WinCC V7.5	`—`	—
Siemens	SIMATIC WinCC V8.0	`—`	—
siemens	openpcs_7	`≤ 9.1`	—
siemens	simatic_batch	`≤ 9.1`	—
siemens	simatic_pcs_7	`≤ 9.1`	—
siemens	simatic_route_control	`≤ 9.1`	—
siemens	simatic_wincc	`7.5` `7.4` `8.0`	— — —
siemens	simatic_wincc_runtime_professional	`≤ 18` `19`	— —

Vendors and products

Weakness classes (CWE)

CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference
Base
The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.
Entry at MITRE CWE-476

References & sources

Siemens ProductCERTproductcert/html/ssa-753746.htmlVendor advisory

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