Security News

A vulnerability discovered in Schneider Electric's Modicon programmable logic controllers, used in millions of devices worldwide, could allow a remote attacker to gain total and undetectable control over the chips, leading to remote code execution, malware installation and other security compromises. Discovered by security researchers at asset visibility and security vendor Armis, the vulnerability, dubbed Modipwn, is similar to the vulnerability that was leveraged by the Triton malware that targeted Schneider Electric safety controllers used in Saudi Arabian petrochemical plants.

Several vulnerabilities discovered by Kaspersky researchers in Rockwell Automation software impact industrial products from Schneider Electric, GE and other vendors. The security holes were identified by Kaspersky researchers in Rockwell Automation's ISaGRAF, which is designed for the development of automation products.

Industrial automation giants Siemens and Schneider Electric on Tuesday released several security advisories to inform customers about tens of vulnerabilities affecting their products. The eight new advisories released by Siemens on this Patch Tuesday cover roughly two dozen vulnerabilities affecting its Simcenter Femap, SIMATIC TIM, Solid Edge, SIMATIC NET, Mendix, JT2Go, Teamcenter Visualization, and SIMATIC RF products.

Industrial cybersecurity firm Claroty this week disclosed technical details for two potentially serious vulnerabilities affecting PowerLogic smart meters made by Schneider Electric. PowerLogic is a line of revenue and power quality meters that are used not only by utilities, but also industrial companies, healthcare organizations, and data centers for monitoring electrical networks.

Siemens and Schneider Electric on Tuesday informed customers about the availability of patches and mitigations for several potentially serious vulnerabilities affecting their industrial control system products. The new advisories describe vulnerabilities affecting the company's SICAM, SIMATIC, SIPLUS, LOGO! 8, SENTRON, SIRIUS, and XHQ products.

One of the security bulletins released this week by Schneider Electric warns customers about Drovorub, a piece of Linux malware that was recently detailed by the NSA and the FBI. The U.S. agencies issued a joint advisory in mid-August to warn organizations that the cyber-espionage group known as APT28, which has been linked to Russia's General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate, has been using a piece of Linux malware named Drovorub. Schneider Electric has advised customers to implement defense-in-depth recommendations in order to protect their Trio Q Data Radio and Trio J Data Radio devices against the malware.

Schneider Electric this week released advisories for vulnerabilities impacting various products, including flaws that can be exploited to take control of Modicon M221 programmable logic controllers. "By bypassing authentication protections and having direct access to manipulate the PLC, an attacker could take over complete control of the PLC actions, which could be catastrophic depending what type of OT environment the PLC is deployed," Sigler explained.

ePlus announced that it has extended its Managed Services capabilities to include proactive monitoring, management, and remediation of APC by Schneider Electric uninterruptible power supply devices. The Managed Power Protection offering includes fleet management and on-site dispatch of APC-certified resources for equipment replacement when necessary and a user portal that provides inventory management and reporting capabilities.

Researchers have found another vulnerability in software made by Schneider Electric that is similar to the one exploited by the notorious Stuxnet malware. Researchers at cybersecurity firm Trustwave reported on Thursday that they too have identified a similar vulnerability in Schneider software, specifically EcoStruxure Machine Expert, which allows users to develop projects on Modicon M221 controllers.

Schneider Electric last week informed customers that patches have been made available for vulnerabilities in some Modicon controllers and several EcoStruxure products. read more