An “uninitialized variable” code execution vulnerability exists in the
Rockwell Automation Arena®
that could allow a threat actor to craft a DOE file and force the software to access a variable before it being initialized. If exploited, a threat actor could leverage this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code. To exploit this vulnerability, a legitimate user must execute the malicious code crafted by the threat actor.
Weakness
The product does not initialize or incorrectly initializes a resource, which might leave the resource in an unexpected state when it is accessed or used.
Potential Mitigations
- Use a language that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
- For example, in Java, if the programmer does not explicitly initialize a variable, then the code could produce a compile-time error (if the variable is local) or automatically initialize the variable to the default value for the variable’s type. In Perl, if explicit initialization is not performed, then a default value of undef is assigned, which is interpreted as 0, false, or an equivalent value depending on the context in which the variable is accessed.
References