Schneider Electric Pelco Digital Sentry Video Management System Vulnerability

OVERVIEW

Schneider Electric has identified a hard-coded credential vulnerability in Schneider Electric’s Pelco Digital Sentry Video Management System. Schneider Electric has produced a new firmware version to mitigate this vulnerability.

This vulnerability could be exploited remotely.

AFFECTED PRODUCTS

The following Pelco Digital Sentry Video Management System versions are affected:

• Pelco Digital Sentry Video Management System, versions prior to Version 7.13

IMPACT

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may allow an attacker to gain access to execute code on the affected system.

Impact to individual organizations depends on many factors that are unique to each organization. NCCIC/ICS-CERT recommends that organizations evaluate the impact of this vulnerability based on their operational environment, architecture, and product implementation.

BACKGROUND

Schneider Electric is a France-based company that maintains offices in 190 countries worldwide.

The affected product, Pelco Digital Sentry Video Management System, is a video recording system. According to Schneider Electric, Pelco Digital Sentry Video Management System is deployed across several sectors including Commercial Facilities. Schneider Electric estimates that these products are used worldwide.

VULNERABILITY CHARACTERIZATION

VULNERABILITY OVERVIEW

USE OF HARD-CODED PASSWORDCWE-259: Use of Hard-coded Password, http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/259.html, web site last accessed July 14, 2016.

The affected system contains hard-coded credentials that may allow an attacker to gain access to confidential information or execute code on the affected system.

CVE-2016-4520NVD, http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2016-4520, NIST uses this advisory to create the CVE web site report. This web site will be active sometime after publication of this advisory. has been assigned to this vulnerability. Schneider Electric has assigned a CVSS v3 base score of 8.6; the CVSS vector string is (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H).CVSS Calculator, https://www.first.org/cvss/calculator/3.0#CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H, web site last accessed July 14, 2016.

VULNERABILITY DETAILS

EXPLOITABILITY

This vulnerability could be exploited remotely.

EXISTENCE OF EXPLOIT

No known public exploits specifically target this vulnerability.

DIFFICULTY

An attacker with a low skill would be able to exploit this vulnerability.

MITIGATION

Schneider Electric has produced new firmware, Version 7.14, for the Pelco Digital Sentry Video Management System, which addresses the identified vulnerability. The new firmware, Version 7.14, is available on Pelco’s web site:

<https://www.pelco.com/video-management-solutions/digital-sentry-flexible-video-management#tab/documents&gt;

Schneider Electric has released a security notification, SEVD-2016-153-01, which is available at the following location:

<http://www.schneider-electric.com/ww/en/download/document/SEVD-2016-153-01&gt;

ICS-CERT recommends that users take defensive measures to minimize the risk of exploitation of these vulnerabilities. Specifically, users should:

• Minimize network exposure for all control system devices and/or systems, and ensure that they are not accessible from the Internet.
• Locate control system networks and remote devices behind firewalls, and isolate them from the business network.
• When remote access is required, use secure methods, such as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), recognizing that VPNs may have vulnerabilities and should be updated to the most current version available. Also recognize that VPN is only as secure as the connected devices.

ICS-CERT reminds organizations to perform proper impact analysis and risk assessment prior to deploying defensive measures.

ICS-CERT also provides a section for control systems security recommended practices on the ICS-CERT web page at: http://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/content/recommended-practices. Several recommended practices are available for reading and download, including Improving Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity with Defense-in-Depth Strategies.

Additional mitigation guidance and recommended practices are publicly available in the ICS‑CERT Technical Information Paper, ICS-TIP-12-146-01B–Targeted Cyber Intrusion Detection and Mitigation Strategies, that is available for download from the ICS-CERT web site (http://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/).

Organizations observing any suspected malicious activity should follow their established internal procedures and report their findings to ICS-CERT for tracking and correlation against other incidents.