Hirschmann HiLCOS Web Interface Heap Overflow Vulnerability (CVE-2024-14033)

Hirschmann Industrial IT products are susceptible to a heap overflow vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-14033 within the HiLCOS web interface. This vulnerability enables unauthenticated remote attackers to trigger a denial-of-service condition by sending specific, crafted requests to the affected web interface. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability results in the crashing of the targeted device, causing service disruption. The risk is heightened in configurations where the Public Spot functionality is activated. This poses a significant threat to industrial networks relying on these devices for critical operations, potentially leading to downtime and operational impacts.

Attack Chain

1. An unauthenticated attacker identifies a vulnerable Hirschmann Industrial IT device with the HiLCOS web interface exposed.
2. The attacker crafts a malicious HTTP request specifically designed to trigger the heap overflow vulnerability in the HiLCOS web interface.
3. The attacker sends the specially crafted HTTP request to the targeted device’s web interface (typically over port 80 or 443).
4. The HiLCOS web interface processes the malicious request without proper bounds checking, leading to a heap overflow.
5. The heap overflow corrupts memory within the device’s system processes, causing instability.
6. The device’s web server or other critical processes crash as a result of the memory corruption.
7. The device enters a denial-of-service state, becoming unresponsive to legitimate network traffic.
8. Network services provided by the affected device are disrupted, impacting dependent systems and users.

Impact

Successful exploitation of CVE-2024-14033 results in a denial-of-service condition on affected Hirschmann Industrial IT devices. This can lead to significant disruption of network services, particularly in industrial control systems (ICS) environments. The impact includes loss of network connectivity, control system downtime, and potential cascading failures in dependent systems. The number of affected devices and sectors depends on the prevalence of vulnerable Hirschmann products within critical infrastructure and industrial networks, however any exploitation of this vulnerability would have a detrimental effect.

Recommendation

• Apply available patches or firmware updates provided by Hirschmann to remediate CVE-2024-14033, as referenced in the Belden Security Bulletin BSECV-2024-16.
• Implement network segmentation and access control policies to limit exposure of the HiLCOS web interface to untrusted networks.
• Monitor web server logs for suspicious HTTP requests indicative of exploitation attempts targeting CVE-2024-14033. Use the rule titled “Detect Suspicious HiLCOS Web Requests” as a starting point.