CVE-2022-29960
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 · uneditedEmerson OpenBSI through 2022-04-29 uses weak cryptography. It is an engineering environment for the ControlWave and Bristol Babcock line of RTUs. DES with hardcoded cryptographic keys is used for protection of certain system credentials, engineering files, and sensitive utilities.
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dbcve analysis · high confidenceEmerson OpenBSI engineering workstation software uses the outdated DES algorithm with hardcoded cryptographic keys to protect system credentials, engineering files, and sensitive utilities. This weak cryptography allows attackers who obtain the encrypted data to potentially decrypt it, as DES is considered broken and hardcoded keys cannot be rotated or changed.
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< 5.9= 5.9CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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 OpenBSI is installedLook for Emerson OpenBSI software on the system. Check common installation directories such as C:\Program Files\Emerson\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Emerson\, or search for OpenBSI in the system registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\EmersonAffected if OpenBSI software is present on the system
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Check the installed OpenBSI versionRight-click the OpenBSI application icon, select Properties, and view the Version tab, or check Add/Remove Programs for the version entryAffected if The installed version is lower than 5.9 or equals exactly 5.9
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Locate DES-encrypted configuration or credential filesSearch the OpenBSI installation directory and associated data folders for files with extensions such as .dat, .cfg, .pwd, .dat, or XML configuration files that may contain encrypted credentials or engineering dataAffected if Files containing DES-encrypted data are found in the OpenBSI installation or user data directories
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Inspect configuration files for hardcoded cryptographic keysExamine configuration files in the OpenBSI program directory and config folders for plaintext strings that appear to be cryptographic keys, or strings referencing DES encryption in binary or configuration files using a hex editor or strings utilityAffected if Hardcoded keys or DES-related cryptographic strings are present in configuration or binary files
The environment is affected if OpenBSI is installed with a version lower than 5.9 or equal to 5.9 and contains files protected by DES encryption with hardcoded keys.
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 data5.9
Contact Emerson for patches or guidance to replace DES with modern encryption (e.g., AES-256) and implement proper key management. Until then, restrict access to the OpenBSI workstation and associated files to minimize exposure of protected data.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation24.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-29960 — 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-2022-29960 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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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