Security Resilience

CVE-2023-1618

Mitsubishielectric Melsec Ws0-Geth00200 Firmware

Published
19 May 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.011 66th percentile
Risk Priority 61 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-1618 is a high-severity Active Debug Code (CWE-489) vulnerability in Mitsubishielectric Melsec Ws0-Geth00200 Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Junk Data (T1001.001); ranked in the top 34% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A02:2025 Security Misconfiguration

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Active Debug Code vulnerability in Mitsubishi Electric Corporation MELSEC WS Series WS0-GETH00200 Serial number 2310 **** and prior allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to bypass authentication and illegally log into the affected module by connecting to it via telnet which…

more

is hidden function and is enabled by default when shipped from the factory. As a result, a remote attacker with unauthorized login can reset the module, and if certain conditions are met, he/she can disclose or tamper with the module's configuration or rewrite the firmware.

CWE(s)
CWE-489CWE-1188

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001.001 Junk Data Command And Control
Adversaries may add junk data to protocols used for command and control to make detection more difficult.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001.002 Steganography Command And Control
Adversaries may use steganographic techniques to hide command and control traffic to make detection efforts more difficult.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.002 Security Account Manager Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to extract credential material from the Security Account Manager (SAM) database either through in-memory techniques or through the Windows Registry where the SAM database is stored.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.006 DCSync Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credentials and other sensitive information by abusing a Windows Domain Controller's application programming interface (API)(Citation: Microsoft DRSR Dec 2017) (Citation: Microsoft GetNCCChanges) (Citati…
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.007 Proc Filesystem Credential Access
Adversaries may gather credentials from the proc filesystem or `/proc`.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-6374Same product: Mitsubishielectric Melsec Ws0-Geth00200
CVE-2023-6942Same vendor: Mitsubishielectric
CVE-2023-4699Same vendor: Mitsubishielectric
CVE-2023-2061Same vendor: Mitsubishielectric
CVE-2023-2060Same vendor: Mitsubishielectric
CVE-2023-6815Same vendor: Mitsubishielectric
CVE-2023-5247Same vendor: Mitsubishielectric
CVE-2023-4625Same vendor: Mitsubishielectric
CVE-2023-1424Same vendor: Mitsubishielectric
CVE-2023-2063Same vendor: Mitsubishielectric

Affected Assets

mitsubishielectric
melsec ws0-geth00200 firmware
all versions

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 11 hardening rules · 6 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V14.3.2
  • V6.3.2
  • V11.3.1
  • V13.2.3

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.

CM-1 Policy and Procedures
addresses: CWE-1188

Requires documented secure initialization practices and avoidance of insecure defaults in configuration baselines.

CM-2 Baseline Configuration
addresses: CWE-1188

Reviewing and updating baseline when components are installed or upgraded prevents initialization with insecure defaults.

CM-7 Least Functionality
addresses: CWE-1188

Requiring explicit configuration to minimal functionality overrides insecure defaults that would otherwise enable excess capabilities.

PL-11 Baseline Tailoring
addresses: CWE-1188

Tailoring replaces or augments insecure default initializations with system-specific values and compensating controls before deployment.

PL-9 Central Management
addresses: CWE-1188

Central configuration overrides or replaces insecure default initializations that would otherwise be left unchanged on each system.

PM-30 Supply Chain Risk Management Strategy
addresses: CWE-1188

SCRM practices during acquisition and configuration management address insecure default initializations shipped by vendors.

RA-5 Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning
addresses: CWE-1188

Scans detect resources initialized with insecure defaults that create exploitable conditions.

SA-16 Developer-provided Training
addresses: CWE-1188

Instruction on secure initialization of security controls prevents leaving resources with insecure defaults after installation.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

ID.RA-09 partial match
blocks

Pre-acquisition integrity checks can reject products known to ship with insecure defaults.

PR.PS-01 partial match
blocks

Hardened baselines and configuration management directly replace insecure defaults with secure settings.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly require removal of debug code before release, covering most of this weakness while the control addresses many other development issues.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.8.10 Information deletion partial match
removes

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248823 OL 8 must not have the telnet-server package installed. blocks CWE-1188
RHEL 7 (1 rule)
  • V-204627 SNMP community strings on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be changed from the default. blocks CWE-1188
Ubuntu 22.04 (1 rule)
  • V-260529 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must be configured so that remote X connections are disabled, unless to fulfill documented and validated mission requirements. blocks CWE-1188
Ubuntu 24.04 (1 rule)
  • V-270708 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS must be configured so that remote X connections are disabled, unless to fulfill documented and validated mission requirements. blocks CWE-1188
Windows Server 2016 (1 rule)
  • V-224972 Active Directory Group Policy objects must have proper access control permissions. blocks CWE-1188
Windows Server 2019 (1 rule)
  • V-205741 Windows Server 2019 Active Directory Group Policy objects must have proper access control permissions. blocks CWE-1188

References