CVE-2024-54089
Published: 11 February 2025
Summary
CVE-2024-54089 is a high-severity Inadequate Encryption Strength (CWE-326) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 8.7 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 9.9th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SC-12 (Cryptographic Key Establishment and Management) and SC-13 (Cryptographic Protection).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2024-54089 is a vulnerability in all versions of Siemens APOGEE PXC Series (BACnet), APOGEE PXC Series (P2 Ethernet), and TALON TC Series (BACnet) building controllers. These affected devices implement a weak encryption mechanism based on a hard-coded key, which enables attackers to guess or decrypt passwords from ciphertext. The issue is classified under CWE-326 (Inadequate Encryption Strength) and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N), indicating high severity due to significant confidentiality impact.
A remote, unauthenticated attacker with network access can exploit this vulnerability with low attack complexity and no user interaction. Exploitation involves capturing ciphertext from the device and using the known hard-coded key to decrypt stored or transmitted passwords, potentially granting access to device configurations or controls in building automation systems.
Siemens has published security advisory SSA-615116 at https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-615116.html, which details the vulnerability and affected products.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-52266
Vulnerability details
A vulnerability has been identified in APOGEE PXC Series (BACnet) (All versions), APOGEE PXC Series (P2 Ethernet) (All versions), TALON TC Series (BACnet) (All versions). Affected devices contain a weak encryption mechanism based on a hard-coded key. This could allow…
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an attacker to guess or decrypt the password from the cyphertext.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Vulnerability in network-exposed controllers enables remote exploitation (T1190) and direct decryption of credentials via hardcoded weak encryption (T1552).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Requires implementation of organization-defined cryptographic mechanisms for protecting sensitive information like passwords, directly mitigating the weak encryption with hard-coded key used in this CVE.
Mandates establishment and management of cryptographic keys, preventing reliance on hard-coded keys that enable password decryption as exploited in this vulnerability.
Protects confidentiality of transmitted information, countering remote attackers capturing and decrypting ciphertext containing passwords over the network.