The ABB HMI components implement hidden administrative accounts that are used during the provisioning phase of the HMI interface. These credentials allow the provisioning tool Panel Builder 600 to flash a new interface and Tags (MODBUS coils) mapping to the HMI. These credentials are the idal123 password for the IdalMaster account, and the exor password for the exor account. These credentials are used over both HTTP(S) and FTP. There is no option to disable or change these undocumented credentials. An attacker can use these credentials to login to ABB HMI to read/write HMI configuration files and also to reset the device. This affects ABB CP635 HMI, CP600 HMIClient, Panel Builder 600, IDAL FTP server, IDAL HTTP server, and multiple other HMI components.
The product contains hard-coded credentials, such as a password or cryptographic key, which it uses for its own inbound authentication, outbound communication to external components, or encryption of internal data.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cp620_firmware | Abb | * | 1.76 (including) |
Hard-coded credentials typically create a significant hole that allows an attacker to bypass the authentication that has been configured by the product administrator. This hole might be difficult for the system administrator to detect. Even if detected, it can be difficult to fix, so the administrator may be forced into disabling the product entirely. There are two main variations:
In the Inbound variant, a default administration account is created, and a simple password is hard-coded into the product and associated with that account. This hard-coded password is the same for each installation of the product, and it usually cannot be changed or disabled by system administrators without manually modifying the program, or otherwise patching the product. If the password is ever discovered or published (a common occurrence on the Internet), then anybody with knowledge of this password can access the product. Finally, since all installations of the product will have the same password, even across different organizations, this enables massive attacks such as worms to take place. The Outbound variant applies to front-end systems that authenticate with a back-end service. The back-end service may require a fixed password which can be easily discovered. The programmer may simply hard-code those back-end credentials into the front-end product. Any user of that program may be able to extract the password. Client-side systems with hard-coded passwords pose even more of a threat, since the extraction of a password from a binary is usually very simple.