Honeywell Experion LX

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• CVSS v3 9.1
• ATTENTION: Exploitable remotely/low attack complexity
• Vendor: Honeywell
• Equipment: Experion LX
• Vulnerability: Missing Authentication for Critical Function

CISA is aware of a public report known as “OT:ICEFALL” that details vulnerabilities found in multiple operational technology (OT) vendors. CISA is issuing this advisory to provide notice of the reported vulnerabilities and identify baseline mitigations for reducing risks to these and other cybersecurity attacks.

2. RISK EVALUATION

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow for configuration manipulation and a denial-of-service condition.

3. TECHNICAL DETAILS

3.1 AFFECTED PRODUCTS

The following versions of Experion LX, a distributed control system (DCS), are affected:

• Experion LX: All versions

3.2 VULNERABILITY OVERVIEW

3.2.1    MISSING AUTHENTICATION FOR CRITICAL FUNCTION CWE-306

The affected product uses the EpicMo protocol that does not have authentication features, which may allow an attacker with access to this protocol over a network to manipulate firmware or cause a denial-of-service condition.

CVE-2022-30317 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 9.1 has been assigned; the CVSS vector string is (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H).

3.3 BACKGROUND

• CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTORS: Multiple
• COUNTRIES/AREAS DEPLOYED: Worldwide
• COMPANY HEADQUARTERS LOCATION: United States

3.4 RESEARCHER

Daniel dos Santos and Jos Wetzels from Forescout Technologies reported this vulnerability to CISA.

4. MITIGATIONS

Honeywell has released the following mitigations:

• Experion LX R520.1 incorporates secure boot functionality and signed firmware images.
• R501.6, R511.5 and R520 releases have an update to incorporate the secure lock functionality. Secure lock restricts all firmware downloads to process controllers while the lock is invoked.

For more information and support, users should contact Honeywell support.

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 at cisa.gov/ics. Several CISA products detailing cyber defense best 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 at cisa.gov/ics in the technical information paper, ICS-TIP-12-146-01B--Targeted Cyber Intrusion Detection and Mitigation Strategies.

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

No known public exploits specifically target this vulnerability.

• Honeywell