ABB Multiple System 800xA Products

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• CVSS v3 7.8
• ATTENTION: Low skill level to exploit
• Vendor: ABB
• Equipment: System 800xA
• Vulnerabilities: Incorrect Default Permissions

2. RISK EVALUATION

Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to make the system node inaccessible or tamper with runtime data in the system.

3. TECHNICAL DETAILS

3.1 AFFECTED PRODUCTS

The following products of System 800xA are affected:

• OPC Server for AC 800M: all versions
• MMS Server for AC 800M: all versions
• Base Software for SoftControl: all versions
• ABB System 800xA Base: all versions
• 800xA for DCI: all versions
• 800xA for MOD 300: all versions
• 800xA RNRP: all versions
• 800xA Batch Management: all versions
• 800xA Information Management: all versions

3.2 VULNERABILITY OVERVIEW

3.2.1    INCORRECT DEFAULT PERMISSIONS CWE-276

The vulnerability is caused by weak access control settings for objects used to exchange information between System 800xA processes on the same machine. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by injecting garbage data or specially crafted data. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability would be able to affect the online view of runtime data shown in Control Builder.

CVE-2020-8478 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 5.3 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L).

3.2.2    INCORRECT DEFAULT PERMISSIONS CWE-276

The vulnerability is caused by weak access control settings for objects used to exchange information between System 800xA processes on the same machine. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by injecting garbage data or specially crafted data. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability would be able to manipulate the data to allow reads and writes to the controllers or cause the 800xA for DCI processes to crash.

CVE-2020-8484 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

3.2.3    INCORRECT DEFAULT PERMISSIONS CWE-276

The vulnerability is caused by weak access control settings for objects used to exchange information between System 800xA processes on the same machine. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by injecting garbage data or specially crafted data. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability would be able to manipulate the data to allow reads and writes to the controllers or cause the 800xA for MOD 300 processes to crash.

CVE-2020-8485 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

3.2.4    INCORRECT DEFAULT PERMISSIONS CWE-276

The vulnerability is caused by weak access control settings for objects used to exchange information between System 800xA processes on the same machine. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by injecting garbage data or specially crafted data. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability concerning 800xA RNRP would be able to affect node redundancy handling. The attacked node could perceive other nodes to be unavailable, which will disrupt the communication. When running the system in simulation mode, the simulated clock could be affected.

CVE-2020-8486 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 6.6 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H).

3.2.5    INCORRECT DEFAULT PERMISSIONS CWE-276

The vulnerability is caused by weak access control settings for objects used to exchange information between System 800xA processes on the same machine. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by injecting garbage data or specially crafted data. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability concerning System 800xA Base would be able to affect node redundancy handling. The attacked node could perceive other nodes to be unavailable, which will disrupt the communication. When running the system in simulation mode, the simulated clock could be affected.

CVE-2020-8487 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 6.6 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H).

3.2.6    INCORRECT DEFAULT PERMISSIONS CWE-276

The vulnerability is caused by weak access control settings for objects used to exchange information between System 800xA processes on the same machine. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by injecting garbage data or specially crafted data. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability would be able to affect how the UI is updated during batch execution. The compare and printing functionality in batch could also be affected.

CVE-2020-8488 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

3.2.7    INCORRECT DEFAULT PERMISSIONS CWE-276

The vulnerability is caused by weak access control settings for objects used to exchange information between System 800xA processes on the same machine. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by injecting garbage data or specially crafted data. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability would be able to affect the runtime values that are to be stored in the archive. Also, this can make information management history services unavailable to the clients.

CVE-2020-8489 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

3.3 BACKGROUND

• CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTORS: Chemical, Critical Manufacturing, Dams, Energy, Food and Agriculture, Water and Wastewater
• COUNTRIES/AREAS DEPLOYED: Worldwide
• COMPANY HEADQUARTERS LOCATION: Switzerland

3.4 RESEARCHER

William Knowles of Applied Risk reported these vulnerabilities to ABB.

4. MITIGATIONS

ABB recommends changing any user account passwords suspected to be known by an unauthorized person. ABB recommends users disable interactive logon (both local and remote) for the service account.

Please note these vulnerabilities can only be exploited by authenticated users. ABB recommendeds users ensure only authorized persons have access to user accounts in System 800xA.

ABB plans to correct these vulnerabilities in future product versions.

For more information, please refer to ABB’s Cybersecurity Advisory.

CISA recommends users take defensive measures to minimize the risk of exploitation of these vulnerabilities. Specifically, users should: 

• Follow the principle of least privilege.

CISA reminds organizations to perform proper impact analysis and risk assessment prior to deploying defensive measures.



CISA also provides a section for control systems security recommended practices on the ICS webpage on us-cert.gov. Several recommended practices are available for reading and download, including Improving Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity with Defense-in-Depth Strategies.

Additional mitigation guidance and recommended practices are publicly available on the ICS webpage on us-cert.gov in the Technical Information Paper, ICS-TIP-12-146-01B--Targeted Cyber Intrusion Detection and Mitigation Strategies.



Organizations observing any suspected malicious activity should follow their established internal procedures and report their findings to CISA for tracking and correlation against other incidents.

• ABB