Adam 5550 FirmwareOperating system · Advantech

CVE-2024-37187

MEDIUM · 5.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-09-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
60/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges

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
Advantech ADAM-5550 share user credentials with a low level of encryption, consisting of base 64 encoding.

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 Advantech ADAM-5550 programmable automation controller stores or transmits user credentials using only base64 encoding, which provides no cryptographic protection. Base64 is easily reversible encoding, allowing attackers to trivially obtain plaintext credentials.

MitigationVerify if vendor firmware update exists; if not available, implement network segmentation, restrict access via firewall, and consider device replacement since base64- encoded credentials indicate legacy insecure design.

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
Adam 5550 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
Adjacent
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

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

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

  1. Identify the device model
    Access the device web interface, console, or device label to confirm the exact model number is Advantech ADAM-5550
    Affected if The device is an Advantech ADAM-5550 programmable automation controller
  2. Check firmware version
    Access the device admin panel or use the device management interface to retrieve the firmware version information
    Affected if Any firmware version is present (all versions are affected)
  3. Inspect credential storage location
    Examine configuration files, backup files, or device exports for stored user credentials - look for base64-encoded strings in fields that should contain passwords or usernames
    Affected if Credentials are stored and appear as base64-encoded strings (e.g., 'YWRtaW4=' instead of 'admin')
  4. Verify credential transmission method
    Use a network packet capture tool to observe how credentials are transmitted during login or authentication - check if they are sent as plain base64 without additional encryption
    Affected if Credentials are transmitted over the network in base64 format without TLS or other encryption

If the device is an ADAM-5550 and credentials are found stored or transmitted as base64-encoded strings without cryptographic protection, the environment is affected by this vulnerability.

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

Verify if vendor firmware update exists; if not available, implement network segmentation, restrict access via firewall, and consider device replacement since base64- encoded credentials indicate legacy insecure design.

Fix this in Adam 5550 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-37187 — 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-2024-37187 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