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PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2023-5870 Siemens CVE debrief

CVE-2023-5870 is a medium-severity vulnerability in PostgreSQL affecting the pg_cancel_backend role, which can signal background workers including logical replication launcher, autovacuum workers, and the autovacuum launcher. The vulnerability was published on August 13, 2024. Successful exploitation requires a non-core extension with a less-resilient background worker and would affect only that specific background worker. A remote high-privileged user could exploit this flaw to launch a denial of service (DoS) attack. Siemens SINEC NMS is affected by this vulnerability. The vendor has provided a fix in version 3.0 or later.

Vendor
Siemens
Product
SINEC NMS
CVSS
MEDIUM 4.4
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2024-08-13
Original CVE updated
2024-08-13
Advisory published
2024-08-13
Advisory updated
2024-08-13

Who should care

Organizations running Siemens SINEC NMS with embedded PostgreSQL databases, industrial control system operators, database administrators managing PostgreSQL instances with non-core extensions, and security teams responsible for OT/ICS environments should prioritize this vulnerability for patching and privilege review.

Technical summary

The vulnerability exists in PostgreSQL's pg_cancel_backend functionality, which allows signaling of background workers. The logical replication launcher, autovacuum workers, and autovacuum launcher are among the affected components. Exploitation requires a non-core extension with a less-resilient background worker, limiting impact to that specific worker. The attack vector is network-based with high complexity and requires high privileges, resulting in availability impact only. Siemens has addressed this in SINEC NMS version 3.0 and later.

Defensive priority

medium

Recommended defensive actions

  • Update Siemens SINEC NMS to version 3.0 or later per vendor guidance
  • Review and restrict database user privileges to minimize exposure to high-privileged accounts
  • Monitor PostgreSQL background worker processes for unexpected termination
  • Assess installed PostgreSQL extensions for resilience against cancellation signals
  • Apply defense-in-depth practices for industrial control systems as recommended by CISA

Evidence notes

The vulnerability description is sourced from CISA CSAF advisory ICSA-24-228-06 published August 13, 2024. Siemens is identified as the affected vendor with SINEC NMS as the affected product. The CVSS 3.1 vector indicates network attack vector, high attack complexity, high privileges required, no user interaction, unchanged scope, no confidentiality or integrity impact, and high availability impact.

Sources and references

Verified primary and authoritative sources

  • CVE-2023-5870 CVE Program record

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-5870

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

  • CVE-2023-5870 NVD vulnerability detail

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-5870

    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/2024/icsa-24-228-06.json

    cisa_csaf

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/csaf/ssa-784301.json

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-784301.html

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-24-228-06

    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

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.