Horizon Alert
Summary of the vulnerability and why it matters
This critical vulnerability allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to gain full control of affected devices by exploiting unsafe programming practices. The issue lies in the way the device handles account checking, potentially enabling attackers to write arbitrary data into memory, leading to a complete compromise of the device's functionality.
- Attackers can fully control devices remotely.
- Critical vulnerability impacting industrial networking equipment.
- Confirm relevance and exposure for potential impact.
Attack Path
How an attacker could exploit the issue
An attacker can remotely target this vulnerability without any authentication. By sending specially crafted data, they can exploit unsafe string parsing within a function that checks account information. This allows arbitrary data to be written to memory, potentially leading to complete control over the affected device.
- No authentication required.
- Exploits unsafe string parsing.
- Leads to full device compromise.
Live Threat
Current exploitation, exposure, and threat context
This vulnerability could allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to compromise the entire device by writing arbitrary data to memory. This is possible when the `check_account()` function is called and the unsafe `sscanf` function is used, leading to a buffer overflow.
- Device compromise.
- Arbitrary code execution.
- Full system control.
Operational Fix
Recommended remediation, mitigation, and detection steps
This critical vulnerability, which allows unauthenticated remote attackers to achieve full device compromise via unsafe sscanf calls, likely impacts WAGO devices managed by industrial control system (ICS) or operational technology (OT) teams, as well as potentially the IT infrastructure and security teams responsible for network segmentation and external-facing devices. The first actionable step is to identify all deployed instances of the affected WAGO devices, confirm their network exposure and business criticality, and then engage the responsible asset owner to plan a risk-based remediation strategy.
- Identify and engage affected teams.
- Verify device exposure and criticality.
- Plan risk-based remediation.
