PatchSiren

PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2023-0401 Hitachi Energy CVE debrief

CVE-2023-0401 is a high-severity denial-of-service issue in the OpenSSL signature-verification path used by Hitachi Energy PCU400-related products. When PKCS7 signed or signedAndEnveloped data is verified and the requested hash algorithm is known to OpenSSL but its implementation is unavailable, digest initialization can fail and a missing return-value check can lead to NULL pointer dereference and a likely crash. The source notes this can occur with FIPS-enabled provider configurations or when the legacy provider is not loaded. OpenSSL TLS handling is not described as affected; the risk is tied to applications that call the PKCS7/SMIME/TS verification functions on untrusted data.

Vendor
Hitachi Energy
Product
PCU400
CVSS
MEDIUM 5.9
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2023-08-17
Original CVE updated
2023-08-17
Advisory published
2023-08-17
Advisory updated
2023-08-17

Who should care

Operators and integrators using Hitachi Energy PCU400 or PCULogger, especially environments that rely on IEC62351-3 secure communication for IEC104/DNP3. Security teams should also care if any third-party application in the environment uses OpenSSL PKCS7, SMIME, or timestamp verification on untrusted data.

Technical summary

The flaw is a NULL pointer dereference caused by an omitted check after digest initialization fails during PKCS7 signature verification. The failure path can be triggered when OpenSSL recognizes a hash algorithm but cannot load its implementation. In the vendor advisory, affected products are PCU400 versions 6.5 K and below, PCU400 versions 9.4.1 and below, and PCULogger versions 1.1.0 and below. The expected impact is a crash, consistent with the published CVSS 3.1 vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Defensive priority

High. This is a remotely reachable availability issue with no privileges or user interaction required in the published CVSS vector, and the vendor provides specific upgrade guidance for affected product lines.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Inventory deployments of PCU400 and PCULogger and confirm whether the affected version ranges are present.
  • If IEC62351-3 secure for IEC104/DNP3 is used, update PCU400 versions 6.5 K and below to 6.6.0 or later.
  • If IEC62351-3 secure for IEC104/DNP3 is used, update PCU400 versions 9.4.1 and below to 9.4.2 or later.
  • If PCULogger is used, plan for version 1.2.0 when available; the advisory says it is compatible with PCU400 9.4.2 and later.
  • Review any applications that verify PKCS7, SMIME, or timestamp signatures on untrusted data and confirm their OpenSSL provider configuration is supported.
  • Monitor affected systems for unexpected crashes or service interruptions in signature-verification workflows.

Evidence notes

Source evidence comes from the CISA CSAF advisory published 2025-02-25 for Hitachi Energy PCU400 (ICSA-25-065-01), which lists the affected versions and remediation steps. The advisory text explicitly describes a NULL pointer dereference during PKCS7 signature verification when digest initialization fails, and it notes that TLS is not the affected path. The supplied data also includes official references to the vendor preview, the CISA advisory page, and NVD. No KEV listing is present in the supplied enrichment.

Sources and references

Verified primary and authoritative sources

  • CVE-2023-0401 CVE Program record

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-0401

    CVE Program - Official CVE Program record with source-provided CVE metadata.

  • CVE-2023-0401 NVD vulnerability detail

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-0401

    NIST National Vulnerability Database - Official NIST NVD detail page and source-specific vulnerability assessment.

Supplemental references

  • Source item URL

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cisagov/CSAF/develop/csaf_files/OT/white/2025/icsa-25-065-01.json

    cisa_csaf

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-25-065-01

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/ics/alerts/ICS-ALERT-10-301-01

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/resources-tools/resources/ics-recommended-practices

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/topics/industrial-control-systems

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://us-cert.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/recommended_practices/NCCIC_ICS-CERT_Defense_in_Depth_2016_S508C.pdf

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Cybersecurity_Best_Practices_for_Industrial_Control_Systems.pdf

    Reference

Methodology and review provenance

AI-assisted synthesis based on stored public vulnerability evidence. System validation, approval state, and publication status do not by themselves establish human review of this revision. PatchSiren helps prioritize defensive review and does not prove exposure or remediation on any system.