7.5 High
CVSS3
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
NONE
Integrity Impact
NONE
Availability Impact
HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
0.001 Low
EPSS
Percentile
40.6%
Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could result in the affected device crashing.
The following versions of KEPServerEX, an industrial automation data concentrator and device manager, are affected:
3.2.1 UNCONTROLLED RESOURCE CONSUMPTION CWE-400
PTC’s KEPServerEX Versions 6.0 to 6.14.263 are vulnerable to being made to read a recursively defined object that leads to uncontrolled resource consumption. KEPServerEX uses OPC UA, a protocol which defines various object types that can be nested to create complex arrays. It does not implement a check to see if such an object is recursively defined, so an attack could send a maliciously created message that the decoder would try to decode until the stack overflowed and the device crashed.
CVE-2023-3825 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).
Claroty Team82 reported this vulnerability to PTC and CISA.
PTC wishes to inform users that the attack vector leveraged during the research involved an un-authenticated OPC UA Client. Standard controls available in the product and outlined in the Secure Deployment guide are sufficient to mitigate this vulnerability. Please refer to this article for additional details.
CISA recommends users take defensive measures to minimize the risk of exploitation of this vulnerability. Specifically, users should:
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.
web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2023-3825
cisa.gov/ics
cisa.gov/ics
cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/400.html
public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSCISA/subscriber/new?topic_id=USDHSCISA_138
twitter.com/CISAgov
twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=PTC%20KEPServerEX+https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-23-208-02
us-cert.cisa.gov/ics/Recommended-Practices
us-cert.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/recommended_practices/NCCIC_ICS-CERT_Defense_in_Depth_2016_S508C.pdf
www.cisa.gov/uscert/ics/alerts/ICS-ALERT-10-301-01
www.cisa.gov/uscert/ics/tips/ICS-TIP-12-146-01B
www.dhs.gov
www.dhs.gov/foia
www.dhs.gov/performance-financial-reports
www.facebook.com/CISA
www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-23-208-02&title=PTC%20KEPServerEX
www.first.org/cvss/calculator/3.0#CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
www.instagram.com/cisagov
www.linkedin.com/company/cybersecurity-and-infrastructure-security-agency
www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-23-208-02
www.oig.dhs.gov/
www.ptc.com/en/support/article/CS397286
www.surveymonkey.com/r/CISA-cyber-survey?product=https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-23-208-02
www.usa.gov/
www.whitehouse.gov/
www.youtube.com/@cisagov
mailto:?subject=PTC%20KEPServerEX&body=www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-23-208-02