PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2024-32740 Siemens CVE debrief

A critical vulnerability in Siemens SIMATIC CN 4100 industrial communication devices exposes undocumented user accounts with hardcoded credentials. Published on May 14, 2024, this flaw enables unauthenticated attackers to compromise affected devices both locally and remotely. The vulnerability carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.8 (Critical) due to its network attack vector, low complexity, and high impact across confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Siemens has released firmware version 3.0 to remediate this issue. Organizations operating these devices in industrial control environments should prioritize patching given the complete compromise potential and the typical network exposure of such infrastructure components.

Vendor: Siemens
Product: SIMATIC CN 4100
CVSS: CRITICAL 9.8
CISA KEV: Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published: 2024-05-14
Original CVE updated: 2024-05-14
Advisory published: 2024-05-14
Advisory updated: 2024-05-14

Who should care

Industrial control system operators, critical infrastructure security teams, manufacturing security engineers, OT/ICS security practitioners, and organizations with Siemens automation deployments

Technical summary

The SIMATIC CN 4100 contains undocumented user accounts with embedded credentials that are not disclosed to device operators. These credentials can be leveraged by attackers to authenticate to the device without authorization, enabling full administrative control. The attack surface includes both local physical access and remote network access, with the CVSS vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) indicating trivial exploitation over the network. The presence of hardcoded credentials represents a fundamental security design flaw that bypasses normal authentication protections.

Defensive priority

critical

Recommended defensive actions

Apply Siemens firmware update to version 3.0 or later for all affected SIMATIC CN 4100 devices
Audit device configurations for any indicators of unauthorized access using undocumented accounts
Review network segmentation to ensure industrial control devices are not directly exposed to untrusted networks
Monitor for anomalous authentication attempts or configuration changes on affected devices
Consult Siemens security advisory SSA-273900 for detailed technical guidance and additional hardening recommendations

Evidence notes

The vulnerability description and remediation guidance are sourced from CISA's ICS advisory ICSA-24-137-06, which references Siemens security advisory SSA-273900. The CVSS vector confirms network accessibility with no privileges required.

Official resources

2024-05-14