Siemens Polarion ALM

As of January 10, 2023, CISA will no longer be updating ICS security advisories for Siemens product vulnerabilities beyond the initial advisory. For the most up-to-date information on vulnerabilities in this advisory, please see Siemens’ ProductCERT Security Advisories (CERT Services | Services | Siemens Global).

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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• CVSS v4 8.5 *ATTENTION: Exploitable remotely/low attack complexity
• Vendor: Siemens
• Equipment: Polarion ALM
• Vulnerabilities: Incorrect Default Permissions, Improper Authentication

2. RISK EVALUATION

Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow unauthenticated access or privilege escalation.

3. TECHNICAL DETAILS

3.1 AFFECTED PRODUCTS

Siemens reports that the following products are affected:

• Polarion ALM: all versions.

3.2 Vulnerability Overview

3.2.1 INCORRECT DEFAULT PERMISSIONS CWE-276

Siemens Polarion ALM is vulnerable due to weak file and folder permissions in the installation path. An attacker with local access could exploit this vulnerability to escalate privileges to NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM.

CVE-2023-50236 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

A CVSS v4 score has also been calculated for CVE-2023-50236. A base score of 8.5 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N).

3.2.2 IMPROPER AUTHENTICATION CWE-287

The REST API endpoints of doorsconnector of the affected product lacks proper authentication. An unauthenticated attacker could access the endpoints, and potentially execute code.

CVE-2024-23813 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.3 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L).

A CVSS v4 score has also been calculated for CVE-2024-23813. A base score of 6.9 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:L/SI:N/SA:N).

3.3 BACKGROUND

• CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTORS: Critical Manufacturing
• COUNTRIES/AREAS DEPLOYED: Worldwide
• COMPANY HEADQUARTERS LOCATION: Germany

3.4 RESEARCHER

Deniz Cevik from Cyberwise Turkiye and Michael Heinzl reported these vulnerabilities to Siemens.

4. MITIGATIONS

Siemens is preparing fix versions and recommends countermeasures for products where fixes are not, or not yet available.

Siemens has identified the following specific workarounds and mitigations users can apply to reduce risk:

• An administrator can restrict the file and folder path permissions post installation.
• If DOORS connector is not used in the environment, add the following in the Apache configuration to restrict unauthenticated access:

<If “%{REQUEST_URI} =~ m#^/polarion/doorsconnector/rest#”> Require all denied </If>

• If DOORS connector is used in the environment, limit access to the doorsconnector endpoint to only the specific IP address of the DOORS instance that Polarion synchronizes its data with.

As a general security measure, Siemens recommends protecting network access to devices with appropriate mechanisms. To operate the devices in a protected IT environment, Siemens recommends configuring the environment according to Siemens’ operational guidelines for industrial security and following recommendations in the product manuals.

Additional information on industrial security by Siemens can be found on the Siemens industrial security webpage.

For more information see the associated Siemens security advisory SSA-871717 in HTML and CSAF.

CISA recommends users take defensive measures to minimize the risk of exploitation of these vulnerabilities. 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 on cisa.gov. 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.

CISA encourages organizations to implement recommended cybersecurity strategies for proactive defense of ICS assets.

Additional mitigation guidance and recommended practices are publicly available on the ICS webpage at cisa.gov 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 exploitation specifically targeting these vulnerabilities has been reported to CISA at this time.

5. UPDATE HISTORY

• February 15, 2024: Initial Publication