CVE-2013-5211 Hitachi Energy CVE debrief

Who should care

Organizations operating Hitachi Energy TropOS devices series 1400/2400/6400 in industrial control system environments should prioritize this vulnerability. Network administrators responsible for NTP infrastructure and OT security teams managing process control networks should assess their exposure. Given the historical exploitation of this vulnerability in December 2013 and its continued relevance to unpatched systems, organizations with legacy TropOS deployments should verify their patch status and implement recommended firewall mitigations.

Technical summary

The monlist feature in NTP's ntp_request.c allows remote attackers to cause denial of service through traffic amplification. By sending forged REQ_MON_GETLIST or REQ_MON_GETLIST_1 requests to vulnerable ntpd instances before version 4.2.7p26, attackers can trigger amplified response traffic. This vulnerability was exploited in the wild in December 2013. Hitachi Energy TropOS devices series 1400/2400/6400 running versions prior to 8.9.6 are affected. The vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 score of 5.3 (MEDIUM) with network attack vector, low attack complexity, and low availability impact.

Defensive priority

medium

Recommended defensive actions

• Update Hitachi Energy TropOS devices series 1400/2400/6400 to version 8.9.6 or later when available
• Implement proper firewall rule sets and filters as countermeasures for DoS attacks
• Ensure process control systems are physically protected from unauthorized direct access
• Eliminate direct Internet connections for process control systems
• Separate process control networks from other networks using properly configured firewalls with minimal exposed ports
• Restrict process control systems from Internet surfing, instant messaging, and email receipt
• Scan portable computers and removable storage media for viruses before connecting to control systems
• Review Hitachi Energy Cybersecurity Advisory for additional DoS vulnerability mitigation guidance

Evidence notes

The vulnerability description and affected product information are derived from the CISA CSAF advisory ICSA-24-352-02. The CVSS 3.1 vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L indicates network attack vector with low attack complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction, and low availability impact. Remediation guidance including update to version 8.9.6 and firewall configuration recommendations are sourced directly from the advisory remediations section.

Official resources