Kazio Networks

Here is a list ¹ of (currently known) control system security vulnerabilities from 2007- present ². (more…)

The ISA99.02.01 standard (Security for Industrial Automation and Control Systems: Establishing an Industrial Automation and Control Systems Security Program) was approved by ANSI as an American National Standard on 13 January 2009. ANSI/ISA-99.02.01-2009 is available for free to all ISA members here.

This standard describes the elements contained in a cyber security management system for use in the industrial automation and control systems environment and provides guidance on how to
meet the requirements described for each element.

This is an important note to those who are still using the older Rockwell Automation (Allen Bradley) 1756 ENBT/A bridge for Ethernet/IP — there seems to be a “Potential Security Vulnerability” for the module.

Here is the full description of the vulnerability (per Rockwell’s official support site):

• The potential for cross-site scripting, which could allow the Product to be used in a social engineering attack.

• An attacker could potentially craft a URL that looked as if it would take a user to the Product, but would instead execute script from a different location. A successful attack would require the attacker to transmit the crafted URL to a user with access to the web interface of the Product and to convince that user to open the URL.

• The potential for web redirection, which could allow the Product to be used in a social engineering attack.An attacker could potentially craft a URL that looked as if it would take a user to the Product, but would actually direct the browser to a different location. A successful attack would require the attacker to transmit the crafted URL to a user with access to the web interface of the Product and to convince that user to open the URL.

• The potential for exposure of some of the Product’s internal web page information. While this does not directly present a functional vulnerability, it does expose some internal information about the module.

The new firmware scheduled for July 2009 will fix this vulnerability. They have suggested the possible use of IE8 (beta) and Firefox may help prevent the cross site scripting attacks.

US-CERT reports it with Vulnerability Note VU#882619 here.

[Update: US-CERT also reports VU#619499 Rockwell Automation ControlLogix 1756-ENBT/A EtherNet/IP Bridge URL Redirection Vulnerability]

Full list of control system vulnerabilities from 2007-present can be seen here.

This is an invaluable resource worth sharing… CWE/ SANS released a list of the 25 most dangerous programming errors that enable “security bugs”, cyber crimes and espionage and how to fix them. Security in control systems and automation can be a catastrophic one. It should ideally start from a policy based implementation and use that as a lead into physical implementation.

Developed in 2008, the list opens the eye to areas that are not well understood, not as apparent and not frequently tested within the wired/ wireless systems space.

The Top 25 is organized into three high-level categories that contain multiple CWE entries.

Insecure Interaction Between Components
These weaknesses are related to insecure ways in which data is sent and received between separate components, modules, programs, processes, threads, or systems.

• CWE-20: Improper Input Validation
• CWE-116: Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output
• CWE-89: Failure to Preserve SQL Query Structure (aka ‘SQL Injection’)
• CWE-79: Failure to Preserve Web Page Structure (aka ‘Cross-site Scripting’)
• CWE-78: Failure to Preserve OS Command Structure (aka ‘OS Command Injection’)
• CWE-319: Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information
• CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
• CWE-362: Race Condition
• CWE-209: Error Message Information Leak

Risky Resource Management
The weaknesses in this category are related to ways in which software does not properly manage the creation, usage, transfer, or destruction of important system resources.

• CWE-119: Failure to Constrain Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer
• CWE-642: External Control of Critical State Data
• CWE-73: External Control of File Name or Path
• CWE-426: Untrusted Search Path
• CWE-94: Failure to Control Generation of Code (aka ‘Code Injection’)
• CWE-494: Download of Code Without Integrity Check
• CWE-404: Improper Resource Shutdown or Release
• CWE-665: Improper Initialization
• CWE-682: Incorrect Calculation

Porous Defenses
The weaknesses in this category are related to defensive techniques that are often misused, abused, or just plain ignored.

• CWE-285: Improper Access Control (Authorization)
• CWE-327: Use of a Broken or Risky Cryptographic Algorithm
• CWE-259: Hard-Coded Password
• CWE-732: Insecure Permission Assignment for Critical Resource
• CWE-330: Use of Insufficiently Random Values
• CWE-250: Execution with Unnecessary Privileges
• CWE-602: Client-Side Enforcement of Server-Side Security

Source [CWE]

[SANS 25 most dangerous programming errors]