CVE-2018-4858
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 · uneditedA vulnerability has been identified in IEC 61850 system configurator (All versions < V5.80), DIGSI 5 (affected as IEC 61850 system configurator is incorporated) (All versions < V7.80), DIGSI 4 (All versions < V4.93), SICAM PAS/PQS (All versions < V8.11), SICAM PQ Analyzer (All versions < V3.11), SICAM SCC (All versions < V9.02 HF3). A service of the affected products listening on all of the host's network interfaces on either port 4884/TCP, 5885/TCP, or port 5886/TCP could allow an attacker to either exfiltrate limited data from the system or to execute code with Microsoft Windows user permissions. Successful exploitation requires an attacker to be able to send a specially crafted network request to the vulnerable service and a user interacting with the service's client application on the host. In order to execute arbitrary code with Microsoft Windows user permissions, an attacker must be able to plant the code in advance on the host by other means. The vulnerability has limited impact to confidentiality and integrity of the affected system. At the time of advisory publication no public exploitation of this security vulnerability was known. Siemens confirms the security vulnerability and provides mitigations to resolve the security issue.
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 confidenceVulnerability in IEC 61850 system configurator and related Siemens power industry software products allows remote attackers to send specially crafted network requests to services on ports 4884/TCP, 5885/TCP, or 5886/TCP. Exploitation can exfiltrate limited data or execute arbitrary code with Windows user permissions, but requires user interaction and pre-planting of code for RCE. The vulnerability has limited confidentiality and integrity impact despite the high CVSS score.
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< 5.80< 3.11all versionsall versions< 7.80< 8.11CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/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.
-
Identify installed Siemens power softwareOpen Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion' to list installed programs. Look for: IEC 61850 System Configurator, SICAM PQ Analyzer, SICAM SCC, DIGSI 4, DIGSI 5, or SICAM PAS/PQS.Affected if Any of these products are installed and their version falls below the fixed versions, or is 'all versions' for SICAM SCC or DIGSI 4.
-
Verify product versionsCheck the installed version of each found product against the affected ranges: IEC 61850 System Configurator < 5.80, SICAM PQ Analyzer < 3.11, SICAM SCC all versions, DIGSI 4 all versions, DIGSI 5 < 7.80, SICAM PAS/PQS < 8.11. Consult the program's About or Help > About menu, or check the installation directory for version files.Affected if Installed version is below the minimum fixed version, or for SICAM SCC and DIGSI 4 any version is installed.
-
Check for listening services on vulnerable portsRun 'netstat -an | findstr "4884\|5885\|5886"' or use PowerShell 'Get-NetTCPConnection -LocalPort 4884,5885,5886 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue' to see if any service is listening on these IEC 61850 communication ports.Affected if Any of these ports show a LISTENING state, indicating the affected service is active and potentially exposed.
You are affected if any of the Siemens IEC 61850 or related products are installed, the version is within the affected ranges, and the service ports are listening on the network.
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 data3.115.807.80
Upgrade affected products to versions V5.80 (IEC 61850 system configurator), V7.80 (DIGSI 5), V4.93 (DIGSI 4), V8.11 (SICAM PAS/PQS), V3.11 (SICAM PQ Analyzer), or V9.02 HF3 (SICAM SCC). Additionally, restrict network access to these ports via firewall or network segmentation to prevent unauthorized external access.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,744.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-4858 — 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-2018-4858 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data