OpenPLC_v3 contains a heap-based buffer overflow in the getData() function in webserver/core/modbus_master.cpp. getData() reads characters between two delimiters into a caller-supplied buffer with no size parameter and no bounds check. In parseConfig() the function is invoked with the 100-byte heap-allocated MB_device.dev_name field. An authenticated attacker with access to the OpenPLC web interface can send a crafted HTTP POST to the /modbus endpoint with an oversized device_name value; the value is persisted to mbconfig.cfg and parsed on load, overflowing dev_name and overwriting adjacent struct fields (protocol at offset 108, dev_address at offset 109, ip_port at offset 210). A 200-byte payload writes 100 bytes past the allocation. The result is heap corruption leading to runtime crash and denial of service of the PLC process control loop, with attacker-controlled overwrite of adjacent configuration fields. The upstream repository was archived on 2026-04-04 and no fix is expected; the vendor has confirmed the issue does not affect OpenPLC Runtime v4.
Weakness
A heap overflow condition is a buffer overflow, where the buffer that can be overwritten is allocated in the heap portion of memory, generally meaning that the buffer was allocated using a routine such as malloc().
Potential Mitigations
- Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index checking.
- D3-SFCV (Stack Frame Canary Validation) from D3FEND [REF-1334] discusses canary-based detection in detail.
- Run or compile the software using features or extensions that randomly arrange the positions of a program’s executable and libraries in memory. Because this makes the addresses unpredictable, it can prevent an attacker from reliably jumping to exploitable code.
- Examples include Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) [REF-58] [REF-60] and Position-Independent Executables (PIE) [REF-64]. Imported modules may be similarly realigned if their default memory addresses conflict with other modules, in a process known as “rebasing” (for Windows) and “prelinking” (for Linux) [REF-1332] using randomly generated addresses. ASLR for libraries cannot be used in conjunction with prelink since it would require relocating the libraries at run-time, defeating the whole purpose of prelinking.
- For more information on these techniques see D3-SAOR (Segment Address Offset Randomization) from D3FEND [REF-1335].
Related Attack Patterns
References
- https://gist.github.com/Shukhrat-03/5cf1825b72e485ef98a32958dfbc611a#security-vulnerability-report
- https://github.com/thiagoralves/OpenPLC_v3
- https://github.com/thiagoralves/OpenPLC_v3/commit/b4702061dc14d1024856f71b4543298d77007b88
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openplc-v3-heap-based-buffer-overflow-in-modbus-master-getdata