CVE-2016-5815
📋 TL;DR
Schneider Electric ION and PM5XXX series power meters have no authentication configured by default, allowing unauthorized users to access the device management portal and make configuration changes. This affects ION73XX, ION75XX, ION76XX, ION8650, ION8800, and PM5XXX series devices.
💻 Affected Systems
- ION73XX series
- ION75XX series
- ION76XX series
- ION8650 series
- ION8800 series
- PM5XXX series
📦 What is this software?
Ion5000 by Schneider Electric
Ion7300 by Schneider Electric
Ion7500 by Schneider Electric
Ion7600 by Schneider Electric
Ion8650 by Schneider Electric
Ion8800 by Schneider Electric
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers could reconfigure power meters to cause physical damage, disrupt critical infrastructure operations, or manipulate energy monitoring data for financial gain.
Likely Case
Unauthorized configuration changes leading to service disruption, inaccurate energy monitoring, or unauthorized access to connected systems.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper network segmentation and authentication controls in place.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires only network access to the device management interface with no authentication.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Firmware updates available per vendor advisory
Vendor Advisory: https://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/advisories/ICSA-16-308-03
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Download firmware update from Schneider Electric portal. 2. Backup current configuration. 3. Apply firmware update via device management interface. 4. Configure authentication settings. 5. Restart device.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Configure Authentication
allEnable authentication on device management portal with strong credentials
Network Segmentation
allIsolate power meters in separate VLAN with strict firewall rules
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict network access controls to limit device management interface access
- Enable logging and monitoring for unauthorized configuration changes
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Attempt to access device management web interface without credentials. If access is granted, device is vulnerable.Check Version:
Check firmware version via device management interface or serial consoleVerify Fix Applied:
Verify authentication is required to access management interface and firmware version matches patched version.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unauthorized access attempts to management interface
- Configuration changes from unexpected IP addresses
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests to device management port without authentication headers
- Unusual configuration traffic patterns
SIEM Query:
source_ip NOT IN (authorized_admin_ips) AND dest_port=80 AND uri_path CONTAINS "/admin"