Missing AuthenticationWeakness · CWE-306

CVE-2022-50978

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-02-02
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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
An unauthenticated remote attacker could potentially disrupt operations by switching between multiple configuration presets via Modbus (TCP).

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

The vulnerability allows unauthenticated remote attackers to change configuration presets through Modbus (TCP) protocol, potentially disrupting industrial operations by manipulating device configurations without proper authentication.

MitigationImplement authentication and authorization controls for Modbus operations that modify configuration presets, and consider network segmentation to limit exposure of management interfaces.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 Modbus TCP exposure
    Scan network for open TCP port 502 (default Modbus port) using a port scanner or by examining firewall rules and network access control lists
    Affected if Port 502 is accessible from untrusted networks or the internet
  2. Verify Modbus write access controls
    Send Modbus function code 0x10 (write multiple registers) or 0x06 (write single register) to the device without providing any credentials to test if configuration preset changes are accepted
    Affected if The device accepts and processes write commands without requiring authentication tokens or credentials
  3. Inspect Modbus function permissions
    Review device documentation or configuration settings to determine which Modbus function codes are permitted without authentication, specifically looking for write operations (0x06, 0x10) affecting configuration presets
    Affected if Write function codes for configuration presets are permitted without any authentication mechanism
  4. Check network segmentation of management interfaces
    Examine network topology and access controls to determine if Modbus management ports are isolated from untrusted network segments or if they are directly accessible
    Affected if Modbus TCP management interface is reachable from the same network segment as operational systems or untrusted networks

The environment is affected if Modbus TCP port 502 is exposed to untrusted networks and configuration preset changes can be performed without any authentication.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement authentication and authorization controls for Modbus operations that modify configuration presets, and consider network segmentation to limit exposure of management interfaces.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
27.0 hours of engineering $4,800
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-50978 — 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-2022-50978 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