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Simatic Hmi United Comfort Panels FirmwareOperating system · Siemens

CVE-2020-15787

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-09-09
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
A vulnerability has been identified in SIMATIC HMI Unified Comfort Panels (All versions <= V16). Affected devices insufficiently validate authentication attempts as the information given can be truncated to match only a set number of characters versus the whole provided string. This could allow a remote attacker to discover user passwords and obtain access to the Sm@rt Server via a brute-force attack.

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 confidence

The vulnerability exists in SIMATIC HMI Unified Comfort Panels (V16 and below) where the authentication validation mechanism truncates user-provided passwords to a fixed number of characters rather than validating the complete password. This drastically reduces password entropy, enabling remote brute-force attacks against the Sm@rt Server to discover valid credentials.

MitigationApply vendor patches to obtain versions beyond V16. Until patched, implement network segmentation, enforce strict firewall rules to limit Sm@rt Server exposure, and consider disabling remote access features if not required.

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
Simatic Hmi United Comfort Panels FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions

CVSS 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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the device model
    Access the device System Diagnostics or go to the device's Control Panel > Device Properties to confirm the model is SIMATIC HMI Unified Comfort Panel (e.g., Unified Comfort TP700, TP900, TP1500, etc.)
    Affected if The device is not a SIMATIC HMI Unified Comfort Panel, then this CVE does not apply
  2. Check the firmware version
    Navigate to the HMI project properties in TIA Portal, or on the device go to Control Panel > Device Diagnostics > Version Info, or access the web server if enabled, to determine the installed firmware version
    Affected if Firmware version is V16 or below (note: all versions of V16 and below are affected per vendor advisory)
  3. Confirm Sm@rt Server is enabled
    In the TIA Portal project, go to Runtime Settings > Services > Sm@rt Server, or on the device go to Control Panel > Services > Sm@rt Server to verify if this service is enabled
    Affected if Sm@rt Server is enabled - the vulnerability is exploitable only when this feature is active and exposed to the network
  4. Verify network exposure of Sm@rt Server
    Check the device network configuration and firewall settings to determine if the Sm@rt Server port (typically TCP port 102) is accessible from outside the local network or untrusted segments
    Affected if Sm@rt Server is accessible from untrusted networks - remote brute-force attacks require network access to the service

A user is affected if they have a SIMATIC HMI Unified Comfort Panel with firmware V16 or below AND Sm@rt Server is enabled and network-accessible, as the password truncation vulnerability enables remote brute-force credential discovery.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply vendor patches to obtain versions beyond V16. Until patched, implement network segmentation, enforce strict firewall rules to limit Sm@rt Server exposure, and consider disabling remote access features if not required.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Firmware V17 or later (specific version available on Siemens support portal)

  1. 1. Identify the current firmware version of the SIMATIC HMI Unified Comfort Panel
  2. 2. Navigate to the Siemens Industry Online Support portal (support.industry.siemens.com)
  3. 3. Search for SIMATIC HMI Unified Comfort Panels firmware updates
  4. 4. Download and install firmware version V17 or later, which contains the remediation for CVE-2020-15787
  5. 5. After upgrade, verify that Sm@rt Server authentication now properly validates the full password string
  6. 6. Change all user passwords as a precautionary measure since they may have been compromised during brute-force attempts
  7. 7. Implement network segmentation to limit exposure of the Sm@rt Server to untrusted networks
Caveat Review release notes for V17 for any changes to Sm@rt Server configuration or behavior that may require adjustment

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Simatic Hmi United Comfort Panels Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation12.0 h
  • Implementation24.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
56.0 hours of engineering $9,960
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-15787 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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