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Simatic Pcs 7Application · Siemens

CVE-2021-40360

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-02-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 7.4 or later.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable Zero-click Patch available

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 PCS 7 V8.2 (All versions), SIMATIC PCS 7 V9.0 (All versions), SIMATIC PCS 7 V9.1 (All versions < V9.1 SP1), SIMATIC WinCC V15 and earlier (All versions < V15 SP1 Update 7), SIMATIC WinCC V16 (All versions < V16 Update 5), SIMATIC WinCC V17 (All versions < V17 Update 2), SIMATIC WinCC V7.4 (All versions < V7.4 SP1 Update 19), SIMATIC WinCC V7.5 (All versions < V7.5 SP2 Update 6). The password hash of a local user account in the remote server could be granted via public API to a user on the affected system. An authenticated attacker could brute force the password hash and use it to login to the server.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-200

The application discloses data — error detail, internal paths, tokens, or other users' records — to someone who shouldn't see it. On its own it can look minor, but it hands attackers the map they need for a larger attack. Remediation is about minimising what's returned and enforcing authorization on every piece of data.

General guidance for the information exposure class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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 Pcs 7Application
Affected:<= 8.2= 9.0= 9.1
Simatic WinccApplication
Affected:< 7.4= 7.4= 7.5= 13= 14.0.1= 15= 15.1= 16= 17

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 7.4 or later
Fixed in 7.4
Vendor patch cert-portal.siemens.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

WinCC V7.4 SP1 U19, V7.5 SP2 U6, V15 SP1 U7, V16 U5, V17 U2, or PCS 7 V9.1 SP1 (or later)

  1. 1. Identify the exact version of SIMATIC PCS 7 or WinCC currently installed
  2. 2. Download the appropriate patch or update from the Siemens ProductCERT website at https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/downloads/ssa-914168.pdf
  3. 3. For SIMATIC WinCC V7.4: Upgrade to V7.4 SP1 Update 19 or later
  4. 4. For SIMATIC WinCC V7.5: Upgrade to V7.5 SP2 Update 6 or later
  5. 5. For SIMATIC WinCC V15: Upgrade to V15 SP1 Update 7 or later
  6. 6. For SIMATIC WinCC V16: Upgrade to V16 Update 5 or later
  7. 7. For SIMATIC WinCC V17: Upgrade to V17 Update 2 or later
  8. 8. For SIMATIC PCS 7 V9.1: Upgrade to V9.1 SP1 or later
Caveat Major version upgrades may require migration planning; test in non-production environment first

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

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,250. Get the upgrade done

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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-2021-40360 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
  • 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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