ZenonApplication · Abb

CVE-2022-34836

HIGH · 8.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-08-24
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 8.20 or later.
See remediation →
91/100
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
Relative Path Traversal vulnerability in ABB Zenon 8.20 allows the user to access files on the Zenon system and user also can add own log messages and e.g., flood the log entries. An attacker who successfully exploit the vulnerability could access the Zenon runtime activities such as the start and stop of various activity and the last error code etc.

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 · moderate confidence

Relative Path Traversal vulnerability in ABB Zenon 8.20 allows unauthenticated or authenticated users to access arbitrary files on the Zenon system and manipulate log entries, potentially exposing runtime activity information such as process start/stop events and error codes.

MitigationApply vendor patches for ABB Zenon 8.20; implement strict input validation on file path parameters and enforce least-privilege access controls to prevent unauthorized file system access.

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
ZenonApplication
Affected:<= 8.20

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
Low
Availability
None

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

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

  1. Identify ABB Zenon installation
    Check for Zenon processes running (zenon.exe, zenonsv.exe) or look for the Zenon installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\ABB\Zenon or C:\inetpub\wwwroot\zenonweb)
    Affected if ABB Zenon software is installed on the system
  2. Determine Zenon version
    Check the Zenon version by viewing file properties of zenon.exe or checking the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\ABB\Zenon\Version
    Affected if The installed version is 8.20 or any version lower than 8.20 (the vulnerability affects versions <= 8.20)
  3. Verify if Zenon web interface is enabled
    Check if the Zenon web server (zenonweb) is installed and running - look for IIS site or standalone web service configuration for Zenon
    Affected if The Zenon web interface component is enabled and accessible (the path traversal vulnerability targets the web interface)
  4. Check network exposure of web service
    Review firewall rules and IIS/site bindings to determine if the Zenon web service is exposed to network access
    Affected if The Zenon web service is reachable from network or untrusted segments (vulnerability can be exploited by unauthenticated or authenticated users)
  5. Inspect access controls on log directory
    Verify file system permissions on the Zenon log directory (typically in the Zenon installation folder under \log or \archive) to see if arbitrary file access would be possible
    Affected if The web service account has permissions beyond the intended log directory, allowing traversal

The environment is affected if ABB Zenon version 8.20 or lower is installed with the web interface enabled and network-accessible, allowing an attacker to use relative path traversal to access arbitrary files.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 8.20
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor patches for ABB Zenon 8.20; implement strict input validation on file path parameters and enforce least-privilege access controls to prevent unauthorized file system access.

Fix this in Zenon Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
36.0 hours of engineering $6,340
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $10,144.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-34836 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-34836 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
  • 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