Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk Transaction Manager

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• CVSS v3 7.5 *ATTENTION: Exploitable remotely/low attack complexity
• Vendor: Rockwell Automation
• Equipment: FactoryTalk Transaction Manager
• Vulnerability: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption.

2. RISK EVALUATION

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could cause the application to crash or experience a high CPU or memory usage condition, causing intermittent application functionality issues. The user would need to restart the application to recover from the denial of service.

3. TECHNICAL DETAILS

3.1 AFFECTED PRODUCTS

Rockwell Automation reports this vulnerability affects the following FactoryTalk Transaction Manager products:

• FactoryTalk Transaction Manager: versions 13.10 and prior

3.2 VULNERABILITY OVERVIEW

3.2.1 UNCONTROLLED RESOURCE CONSUMPTION CWE-400

A denial-of-service vulnerability exists in the affected products. A threat actor could send a modified packet to port 400 exploit this vulnerability. If exploited, the application could crash or experience a high CPU or memory usage condition, causing intermittent application functionality issues. The user would need to restart the application to recover from the denial of service.

CVE-2023-2778 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

3.3 BACKGROUND

• **CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTORS:**Food and Agriculture, Transportation Systems, Water and Wastewater Systems
• **COUNTRIES/AREAS DEPLOYED:**Worldwide
• COMPANY HEADQUARTERS LOCATION: United States

3.4 RESEARCHER

Rockwell Automation reported this vulnerability to CISA.

4. MITIGATIONS

Rockwell Automation encourages affected software users to install one of the following security patches to address the associated risk:

• v13.00 Security Patch
• v13.10 Security Patch

Users who are unable to update are directed towards the risk mitigation strategies provided below and are encouraged, when possible, to implement Rockwell Automation’s suggested security best practices to minimize the risk.

• Users should follow the instructions in the Knowledgebase article BF29042 to install the patch to mitigate the issue.
• Security Best Practices.

Please see the Rockwell Automation publication regarding this issue for more information.

CISA recommends users take defensive measures to minimize the risk of exploitation of this vulnerability. Specifically, users should:

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

CISA reminds organizations to perform proper impact analysis and risk assessment prior to deploying defensive measures.

CISA also provides a section for control systems security recommended practices on the ICS webpage at cisa.gov/ics. Several CISA products detailing cyber defense best 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 on the ICS webpage at cisa.gov/ics in the technical information paper, ICS-TIP-12-146-01B–Targeted Cyber Intrusion Detection and Mitigation Strategies.

Organizations observing suspected malicious activity should follow established internal procedures and report findings to CISA for tracking and correlation against other incidents.

No known public exploits specifically target this vulnerability. This vulnerability is exploitable remotely. This vulnerability has low attack complexity.