Vulnerabilities > CVE-2021-40363 - File and Directory Information Exposure vulnerability in Siemens Simatic PCS 7 and Simatic Wincc
Attack vector
LOCAL Attack complexity
LOW Privileges required
LOW Confidentiality impact
HIGH Integrity impact
HIGH Availability impact
HIGH Summary
A vulnerability has been identified in SIMATIC PCS 7 V8.2 (All versions), SIMATIC PCS 7 V9.0 (All versions), SIMATIC PCS 7 V9.1 (All versions < V9.1 SP1), SIMATIC WinCC V15 and earlier (All versions < V15 SP1 Update 7), SIMATIC WinCC V16 (All versions < V16 Update 5), SIMATIC WinCC V17 (All versions < V17 Update 2), SIMATIC WinCC V17 (All versions <= V17 Update 4), SIMATIC WinCC V7.4 (All versions < V7.4 SP1 Update 19), SIMATIC WinCC V7.5 (All versions < V7.5 SP2 Update 6). The affected component stores the credentials of a local system account in a potentially publicly accessible project file using an outdated cipher algorithm. An attacker may use this to brute force the credentials and take over the system.
Vulnerable Configurations
Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
- Footprinting An attacker engages in probing and exploration activity to identify constituents and properties of the target. Footprinting is a general term to describe a variety of information gathering techniques, often used by attackers in preparation for some attack. It consists of using tools to learn as much as possible about the composition, configuration, and security mechanisms of the targeted application, system or network. Information that might be collected during a footprinting effort could include open ports, applications and their versions, network topology, and similar information. While footprinting is not intended to be damaging (although certain activities, such as network scans, can sometimes cause disruptions to vulnerable applications inadvertently) it may often pave the way for more damaging attacks.
- WSDL Scanning This attack targets the WSDL interface made available by a web service. The attacker may scan the WSDL interface to reveal sensitive information about invocation patterns, underlying technology implementations and associated vulnerabilities. This type of probing is carried out to perform more serious attacks (e.g. parameter tampering, malicious content injection, command injection, etc.). WSDL files provide detailed information about the services ports and bindings available to consumers. For instance, the attacker can submit special characters or malicious content to the Web service and can cause a denial of service condition or illegal access to database records. In addition, the attacker may try to guess other private methods by using the information provided in the WSDL files.