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CVE-2024-38278 Siemens CVE debrief

A medium-severity vulnerability in Siemens RUGGEDCOM industrial network devices allows remote shell access when IP forwarding is enabled. The flaw causes certain remote services to become accessible on non-managed VLANs even when not intentionally activated, exposing affected systems to unauthorized remote access. Published July 9, 2024, with advisory updates continuing through August 12, 2025.

Vendor
Siemens
Product
RUGGEDCOM i800
CVSS
MEDIUM 6.6
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2024-07-09
Original CVE updated
2025-08-12
Advisory published
2024-07-09
Advisory updated
2025-08-12

Who should care

Organizations operating Siemens RUGGEDCOM industrial Ethernet switches and routers in critical infrastructure environments including electric utilities, transportation systems, and manufacturing facilities where these devices provide hardened network connectivity.

Technical summary

Affected Siemens RUGGEDCOM devices with IP forwarding enabled incorrectly expose remote services on non-managed VLANs regardless of whether those services are intentionally activated. This configuration error allows an attacker to establish a remote shell to the affected system. The vulnerability affects 34 product variants across multiple RUGGEDCOM families including RMC8388, RS416, RS900, RSG907R/908C/909R/910C, RSG920P, RSG2100, RSG2288, RSG2300, RSG2488, RSL910, and RST916/RST2228 series devices. IP forwarding is disabled by default, limiting exposure to systems where administrators have explicitly enabled the feature. Siemens has released firmware version 5.9.0 to address this vulnerability.

Defensive priority

high

Recommended defensive actions

  • Disable IP forwarding if not required (disabled by default)
  • Update affected devices to firmware version 5.9.0 or later
  • Review VLAN segmentation to ensure non-managed VLANs are properly isolated
  • Monitor network traffic for unauthorized access attempts to management services
  • Apply defense-in-depth practices for industrial control systems per CISA guidance

Evidence notes

Vulnerability description and affected products derived from CISA CSAF advisory ICSA-24-193-06. CVSS 6.6 (Medium) per source. Vendor fix and mitigation guidance confirmed in Siemens security advisory SSA-170375. Advisory modified August 12, 2025 to add RUGGEDCOM RSG2100P (32M) and RUGGEDCOM RSG2100PNC (32M) for V4.x and V5.x to affected products list.

Sources and references

Verified primary and authoritative sources

  • CVE-2024-38278 CVE Program record

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-38278

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

  • CVE-2024-38278 NVD vulnerability detail

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-38278

    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-24-193-06.json

    cisa_csaf

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/csaf/ssa-170375.json

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-170375.html

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-24-193-06

    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.