Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities (Update J)

This updated alert is a follow-up to the updated alert titled ICS-ALERT-18-011-01 Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities (Update I) that was published September 11, 2018, on the NCCIC/ICS-CERT website.

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This updated alert is a follow-up to the updated alert titled ICS-ALERT-18-011-01 Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities (Update I) that was published September 11, 2018, on the NCCIC/ICS-CERT website.

NCCIC is referencing CERT/CC’s vulnerability note VU#584653 CPU hardware vulnerable to side-channel attacks to enhance the awareness of critical infrastructure asset owners/operators and to identify affected product vendors that have contacted ICS-CERT for help disseminating customer notifications/recommendations to mitigate the risk associated with cache side-channel attacks known as Meltdown and Spectre. Exploitation of these vulnerabilities may allow unauthorized disclosure of information.

CVE-2017-5753, CVE-2017-5715, and CVE-2017-5754 have been assigned to these vulnerabilities.

The following product vendors have reported that they support products that use affected CPUs and have issued customer notifications with recommendations for users (NCCIC will update the list of vendors that have released customer notifications as additional information becomes available):

Please report any issues affecting control systems in critical infrastructure environments to NCCIC.

For details, please see each company’s announcement:

• ABB: http://search-ext.abb.com/library/Download.aspx?DocumentID=9AKK107045A8219&LanguageCode=en&DocumentPartId=&Action=Launch
• Abbott: http://www.abbott.com/policies/product-security-update.html
• Beckman Coulter: https://www.beckmancoulter.com/wsrportal/wsr/support/WannaCry-Ransomware-Cyber-attack/index.htm
• Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD): www.BD.com/productsecurity
• Dräger: https://static.draeger.com/security
• Emerson (account required for login): https://guardian.emersonprocess.com/Guardian/Components/ArticleViewer/?type=KBA&articleId=9f769bec-d630-4cb7-9d06-fcc338c470e1
• General Electric (account required for login, reference ID 000020832): https://digitalsupport.ge.com
• Honeywell: https://www.honeywellprocess.com/en-US/support/Pages/security-updates.aspx
• Johnson and Johnson: http://www.productsecurity.jnj.com/advisories.html
• Medtronic: http://www.medtronic.com/us-en/product-security/security-updates.html
• OSIsoft: https://techsupport.osisoft.com/Troubleshooting/Alerts/AL00333
• Pepperl+Fuchs: https://files.pepperl-fuchs.com/webcat/navi/productInfo/doct/tdoct6012__eng.pdf?v=20180209142616
• Pepperl+Fuchs (ecom mobile devices): https://cert.vde.com/en-us/advisories/vde-2018-009
• Philips: https://www.philips.com/productsecurity
• PHOENIX CONTACT: https://cert.vde.com/en-us/advisories/vde-2018-003
• Rockwell Automation (account required for login): https://rockwellautomation.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1070884
• Schneider Electric: https://www.schneider-electric.com/en/download/document/SEVD-2018-005-01/
• Siemens:
  • https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssa-168644.pdf
  • https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssb-068644.pdf  
  • https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssa-268644.pdf

• https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssa-505225.pdf

• Smiths Medical: https://www.smiths-medical.com/company-information/general-customer-information-for-spectre-and-meltdown
• Stryker: https://www.stryker.com/us/en/about/governance/cyber-security.html
• Yokogawa Electric Corporation: https://www.yokogawa.com/solutions/products-platforms/announcements/important-notice/cpu-vulnerability/

2. MITIGATIONS

NCCIC is currently coordinating with vendors and security researchers to identify mitigations.

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

NCCIC also provides a section for control systems security recommended practices on the ICS-CERT web page. 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-CERT website in the Technical Information Paper, ICS-TIP-12-146-01B--Targeted Cyber Intrusion Detection and Mitigation Strategies.

• Other