Siemens S7-1200 Insecure Storage of HTTPS CA Certificate
Low RiskICS-CERT ICSA-12-263-01Jun 23, 2012
Summary
SIMATIC S7-1200 controllers (firmware V2.x) store HTTPS CA certificates in insecure format without encryption. This allows an attacker with storage or memory access to extract the certificate and use it to intercept or forge HTTPS communications to the device, potentially compromising encrypted connections used for engineering access, configuration management, or remote monitoring.
What this means
What could happen
An attacker with access to the controller's storage could extract the HTTPS CA certificate, potentially allowing them to intercept or forge HTTPS communications to the device and compromise encrypted connections used for engineering access or remote management.
Who's at risk
Water authorities and municipal utilities using Siemens S7-1200 PLCs for process control, SCADA systems, or remote monitoring should assess their exposure. This affects any S7-1200 controller storing HTTPS CA certificates for encrypted engineering access or cloud connectivity.
How it could be exploited
An attacker would need physical or remote access to the S7-1200 controller's storage to extract the unencrypted HTTPS CA certificate. With the certificate, they could perform man-in-the-middle attacks on HTTPS connections to the device, such as engineering workstation uploads or remote configuration changes.
Prerequisites
- Physical access to the controller or remote access to the controller's filesystem
- Ability to read controller storage or memory
- Target device running SIMATIC S7-1200 firmware V2.x
No patch availableWeak certificate protection mechanismCould enable man-in-the-middle attacks on engineering access
Exploitability
Low exploit probability (EPSS 0.4%)
Affected products (1)
ProductAffected VersionsFix Status
SIMATIC S7-1200: V2.xV2.xNo fix (EOL)
Remediation & Mitigation
0/3
Schedule — requires maintenance window
0/1Patching may require device reboot — plan for process interruption
HARDENINGMonitor access to engineering workstations and implement multi-factor authentication for remote access to controller management interfaces
Mitigations - no patch available
0/2SIMATIC S7-1200: V2.x has reached End of Life. The vendor will not release a patch. Apply the following compensating controls:
HARDENINGRestrict physical and network access to S7-1200 controllers using access control lists, cabinet locks, and network segmentation
HARDENINGImplement network segmentation to isolate S7-1200 controllers from untrusted networks
CVEs (1)
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