CVE-2023-6448Unitronics Vision PLC and HMI Insecure Default Password Vulnerability
CVE-2023-6448 is a hard-coded credentials in Unitronics Vision PLC and HMI, rated critical (9.8 on CVSS 3.1).
Why this priority: Exploited in the wild: listed in CISA's KEV catalog.
Published · Updated · NVD status: Analyzed
What it is
Credentials are built into the product, so anyone who knows them can sign in to every install. The product's default setting is unsafe and many installs keep it.
How it is reached
An attacker can exploit it over the network, without an account, and nobody has to click anything.
What an attacker gains
A successful attack can read the data it protects, change data or behaviour and take it offline. In practice, this kind of flaw lets an attacker sign in with credentials the vendor shipped or stored unprotected.
Is it being exploited?
CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2023-12-11: it is being exploited in the wild. It can be exploited automatically, at scale. EPSS estimates a 2.1% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 82% of scored CVEs.
What to do
- Treat it as urgent: it is on CISA's KEV list. CISA's deadline for US federal agencies: 2023-12-18.
- No fixed version is listed for Unitronics Vision PLC and HMI itself; fixed versions for the other affected products are listed on this page.
- Until it is patched, keep it off the internet or behind a VPN, allowlist or authenticating proxy.
- Check exposed instances for signs of compromise, not only for the version.
Description from NVD
Unitronics VisiLogic before version 9.9.00, used in Vision and Samba PLCs and HMIs, uses a default administrative password. An unauthenticated attacker with network access can take administrative control of a vulnerable system.
What this means for your architecture.
A CVE names a product. Whether it matters depends on where that product sits in your systems: what reaches it, which trust boundary it guards and what it can reach once compromised. Veriom maps your components, their relationships and your trust boundaries from your code, cloud and delivery evidence, so you can see where a component like this sits. The radar itself does not look at your systems.
Components it touches
- Network edge devices: VPNs, firewalls, routers and gateways. They sit between the internet and internal networks, so a flaw in one is often the first step into everything behind it.
- Operating systems on servers, workstations or devices. Everything on the host inherits the flaw.
- Credentials kept in code, configuration, images or firmware. The flaw sits between a stored secret and anyone who can read where it is kept.
- Default settings, permissions and deployment configuration. The flaw sits between the shipped defaults and a hardened deployment.
Trust boundaries in play
- Internet-facing entry points. No account is needed. Any instance reachable from outside your perimeter, through a load balancer, gateway, VPN or exposed admin port, is in scope.
- Between a stored secret and anyone who can read where it is kept. An attacker who crosses it can sign in with credentials the vendor shipped or stored unprotected.
- Between the shipped defaults and a hardened deployment. An attacker who crosses it can use a weak default the deployment never changed.
Questions to answer about your own systems
- Where does Unitronics Vision PLC and HMI run in your systems, and at which version?
- Which of those instances can be reached from the internet or partner networks?
- What can it reach once compromised: which data stores, secrets and services?
Read more
Advisories
Sources
- CVE records and CVSS scores from the NVD CVE API. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- Exploitation status from CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
- Exploit likelihood from FIRST’s Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), refreshed daily.
- Explanations are written by Veriom from fixed templates over each record’s data, not by a person reviewing each CVE. Descriptions are quoted from the records as published.