A vulnerability has been identified in SIMATIC PCS 7 V9.1 (All versions < V9.1 SP2 UC05), SIMATIC WinCC Runtime Professional V18 (All versions < V18 Update 5), SIMATIC WinCC Runtime Professional V19 (All versions < V19 Update 2), SIMATIC WinCC V7.4 (All versions < V7.4 SP1 Update 23), SIMATIC WinCC V7.5 (All versions < V7.5 SP2 Update 17), SIMATIC WinCC V8.0 (All versions < V8.0 Update 5). The affected products do not properly handle certain requests to their web application, which may lead to the leak of privileged information.
This could allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to retrieve information such as users and passwords.
Weakness
The product does not properly prevent a person’s private, personal information from being accessed by actors who either (1) are not explicitly authorized to access the information or (2) do not have the implicit consent of the person about whom the information is collected.
Potential Mitigations
- Identify and consult all relevant regulations for personal privacy. An organization may be required to comply with certain federal and state regulations, depending on its location, the type of business it conducts, and the nature of any private data it handles. Regulations may include Safe Harbor Privacy Framework [REF-340], Gramm-Leach Bliley Act (GLBA) [REF-341], Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) [REF-342], General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) [REF-1047], California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) [REF-1048], and others.
- Carefully evaluate how secure design may interfere with privacy, and vice versa. Security and privacy concerns often seem to compete with each other. From a security perspective, all important operations should be recorded so that any anomalous activity can later be identified. However, when private data is involved, this practice can in fact create risk. Although there are many ways in which private data can be handled unsafely, a common risk stems from misplaced trust. Programmers often trust the operating environment in which a program runs, and therefore believe that it is acceptable store private information on the file system, in the registry, or in other locally-controlled resources. However, even if access to certain resources is restricted, this does not guarantee that the individuals who do have access can be trusted.
References