ICS Advisory

Pacom 1000 CCU GMS System Cryptographic Implementation Vulnerabilities

Last Revised
Alert Code
ICSA-15-337-03

OVERVIEW

This advisory was originally posted to the US-CERT secure Portal library on December 3, 2015, and is being released to the ICS-CERT web site.

Swedish companies XPD and Assured found several crypto implementation flaws in the Pacom GMS system. Pacom has not produced a patch to mitigate these vulnerabilities, but has fixed the new EMCS system.

These vulnerabilities could be exploited remotely. The researchers are planning to publicly disclose these vulnerabilities next week.

AFFECTED PRODUCTS

The following Pacom GMS systems are affected:

  • Pacom 1000 CCU and RTU.

IMPACT

The flaw can be used by a perpetrator to take control over the communication between the controller and base station.

Impact to individual organizations depends on many factors that are unique to each organization. ICS-CERT recommends that organizations evaluate the impact of these vulnerabilities based on their operational environment, architecture, and product implementation.

BACKGROUND

Pacom is a Sweden-based company that has its products installed worldwide.

The affected products, Pacom GMS systems, are network-enabled security panels that control, monitor, and maintain security for a remote site and control all alarm and door functions. Pacom GMS systems are deployed across several sectors including Commercial Facilities, Financial Services, Government Facilities, and Healthcare and Public Health. These products are used worldwide.

VULNERABILITY CHARACTERIZATION

VULNERABILITY OVERVIEW

CRYTOGRAPHIC ISSUESCWE-310: Cryptographic Issues, http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/310.html, web site last accessed December 03, 2015.

There are several implementation flaws in the cryptography in the Pacom GMS systems.

CVE-2014-3260NVD, http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2014-3260, NIST uses this advisory to create the CVE web site report. This web site will be active sometime after publication of this advisory. has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 has been assigned; the CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.CVSS Calculator, https://www.first.org/cvss/calculator/3.0#CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, web site last accessed December 03, 2015.

VULNERABILITY DETAILS

EXPLOITABILITY

These vulnerabilities could be exploited remotely.

EXISTENCE OF EXPLOIT

Exploits that target these vulnerabilities will be made publicly available next week.

DIFFICULTY

An attacker with a low skill would be able to exploit these vulnerabilities.

MITIGATION

Pacom has not produced a patch to mitigate this vulnerability in Pacom 1000 CCU and RTU but has released new firmware (v1.3) for the EMCS system.

ICS-CERT recommends that users take defensive measures to minimize the risk of exploitation of these vulnerabilities. Specifically, users should:

  • Minimize network exposure for all control system devices and/or systems, and ensure that they are not accessible from the Internet.
  • Locate control system networks and remote devices behind firewalls, and isolate them from the business network.
  • When remote access is required, use secure methods, such as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), recognizing that VPNs may have vulnerabilities and should be updated to the most current version available. Also recognize that VPN is only as secure as the connected devices.

ICS-CERT reminds organizations to perform proper impact analysis and risk assessment prior to deploying defensive measures.

ICS-CERT also provides a section for control systems security recommended practices on the ICS-CERT web page at: http://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/content/recommended-practices. 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 in the ICS‑CERT Technical Information Paper, ICS-TIP-12-146-01B--Targeted Cyber Intrusion Detection and Mitigation Strategies, that is available for download from the ICS-CERT web site (http://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/).

Organizations observing any suspected malicious activity should follow their established internal procedures and report their findings to ICS-CERT for tracking and correlation against other incidents.

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Vendor

Pacom