CVE-2016-5874
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedSiemens SIMATIC NET PC-Software before 13 SP2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (OPC UA service outage) via crafted TCP packets.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe vulnerability exists in Siemens SIMATIC NET PC-Software versions prior to 13 SP2. An unauthenticated remote attacker can send crafted TCP packets to the OPC UA service, causing a denial of service that renders the OPC UA service unavailable.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data<= 13CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if Siemens SIMATIC NET PC-Software is installedCheck Windows installed programs list via Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product' in PowerShell to list installed software. Look for entries containing 'SIMATIC NET PC-Software' or 'SIMATIC NET'.Affected if The software appears in the installed programs list
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Determine the installed version of SIMATIC NET PC-SoftwareCheck the software version in Windows Programs and Features, or look in the installation directory (commonly C:\Program Files\Siemens\SIMATIC NET\) for version information in file properties or readme files.Affected if The version listed is 13 or lower, or the version does not indicate SP2 or higher
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Verify if the OPC UA service is runningOpen Windows Services (services.msc) and look for services related to OPC UA, or run 'Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like "*OPC*"}' in PowerShell. Common service names include 'OPC UA' or 'SIMATIC NET OPC' variants.Affected if An OPC UA service is present and running
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Check network exposure of OPC UA portsRun 'netstat -an | findstr "4840"' or use PowerShell 'Get-NetTCPConnection -LocalPort 4840 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue' to check if port 4840 (default OPC UA port) is listening. Also check for any ports in the 48000-48010 range commonly used by OPC UA.Affected if The OPC UA service is listening on a port bound to a network interface accessible from untrusted networks
The environment is affected if Siemens SIMATIC NET PC-Software version 13 or lower is installed AND the OPC UA service is running and network-accessible.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate to Siemens SIMATIC NET PC-Software version 13 SP2 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, consider network segmentation to restrict unauthorized access to the OPC UA service port.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-5874 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-5874 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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