CVE-2022-23450
Published: 12 April 2022
Summary
CVE-2022-23450 is a critical-severity Deserialization of Untrusted Data (CWE-502) vulnerability in Siemens Simatic Energy Manager Basic. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, ranked in the top 3.0% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Deeper analysis
A vulnerability has been identified in SIMATIC Energy Manager Basic and SIMATIC Energy Manager PRO, affecting all versions prior to V7.3 Update 1. The issue stems from insecure deserialization of user-supplied content, tracked as CWE-502, which permits remote attackers to submit maliciously crafted serialized objects over the network.
An unauthenticated attacker can exploit the flaw by sending a specially crafted object, resulting in arbitrary code execution on the target device with SYSTEM-level privileges. The vulnerability carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, reflecting network attack vector, low complexity, and no required authentication or user interaction.
Siemens has published advisory SSA-655554, which details the affected products and directs users to apply the V7.3 Update 1 release that resolves the deserialization weakness. The current and peak EPSS scores both stand at 0.3334 with no material increase observed after disclosure.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2022-28525
Vulnerability details
A vulnerability has been identified in SIMATIC Energy Manager Basic (All versions < V7.3 Update 1), SIMATIC Energy Manager PRO (All versions < V7.3 Update 1). The affected system allows remote users to send maliciously crafted objects. Due to insecure…
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deserialization of user-supplied content by the affected software, an unauthenticated attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a maliciously crafted serialized object. This could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the device with SYSTEM privileges.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Penetration testing supplies malicious serialized objects, detecting unsafe deserialization and supporting corrective actions.
Evaluation of untrusted data handling (deserialization testing) reveals unsafe processing, which the required remediation process addresses.
Untrusted serialized data can be deserialized and observed inside the chamber, blocking gadget-chain exploitation outside the sandbox.
Validates or rejects untrusted serialized data before deserialization occurs.
Identifies and blocks malicious code introduced through deserialization of untrusted data at system boundaries.
Integrity verification of serialized information can detect tampering before deserialization occurs.
Provenance of associated data allows detection of untrusted sources before deserialization or processing occurs.