Security News > 2022 > June > Researchers Disclose 56 Vulnerabilities Impacting OT Devices from 10 Vendors

Nearly five dozen security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in devices from 10 operational technology vendors due to what researchers call are "Insecure-by-design practices."

Collectively dubbed OT:ICEFALL by Forescout, the 56 issues span as many as 26 device models from Bently Nevada, Emerson, Honeywell, JTEKT, Motorola, Omron, Phoenix Contact, Siemens, and Yokogawa.

"Exploiting these vulnerabilities, attackers with network access to a target device could remotely execute code, change the logic, files or firmware of OT devices, bypass authentication, compromise credentials, cause denials of service or have a variety of operational impacts," the company said in a technical report.

Of the 56 vulnerabilities discovered, 38% allow for compromise of credentials, 21% allow for firmware manipulation, 14% allow remote code execution, and 8% of flaws enable tampering with configuration information.

A remote code execution flaw affecting Omron NJ/NX controllers was exploited by a state-aligned actor dubbed CHERNOVITE to develop a piece of a sophisticated malware named PIPEDREAM. Complicating risk management is the increasing interconnectedness between IT and OT networks, coupled with the opaque and proprietary nature of many OT systems, not to mention the absence of CVEs, rendering the lingering issues invisible as well as retaining such insecure-by-design features for a long time.

To mitigate OT:ICEFALL, it's recommended to discover and inventory vulnerable devices, enforce segmentation of OT assets, monitor network traffic for anomalous activity, and procure secure-by-design products to beef up the supply chain.

News URL

https://thehackernews.com/2022/06/researchers-disclose-56-vulnerabilities.html