CVE-2017-5166
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2017-5166 is an information exposure vulnerability in BINOM3 Universal Multifunctional Electric Power Quality Meters that allows attackers to gain privileged access to the device. This affects industrial control systems using these power quality meters, potentially compromising critical infrastructure monitoring.
💻 Affected Systems
- BINOM3 Universal Multifunctional Electric Power Quality Meter
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete compromise of the power quality meter allowing manipulation of power monitoring data, disruption of industrial processes, and potential lateral movement to other industrial control systems.
Likely Case
Unauthorized access to sensitive power quality data and device configuration, potentially enabling further attacks on the industrial network.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper network segmentation and access controls preventing external access to the vulnerable devices.
🎯 Exploit Status
The vulnerability involves information exposure that leads to privilege escalation, suggesting relatively straightforward exploitation once the information leak is identified.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Firmware update addressing CVE-2017-5166 (specific version not specified in public advisories)
Vendor Advisory: https://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/advisories/ICSA-17-031-01A
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Contact BINOM3 or device vendor for firmware update. 2. Backup device configuration. 3. Apply firmware update following vendor instructions. 4. Restart device. 5. Verify proper operation.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Network Segmentation
allIsolate BINOM3 meters on separate VLANs with strict firewall rules preventing external access.
Access Control Lists
allImplement strict network ACLs allowing only authorized management systems to communicate with the meters.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict network segmentation to isolate vulnerable devices from untrusted networks
- Deploy intrusion detection systems to monitor for unauthorized access attempts to the meters
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check device firmware version and compare against vendor's patched version list; monitor for unauthorized access attempts to device management interfaces.Check Version:
Check through device web interface or serial console using vendor-specific commands (consult device manual)Verify Fix Applied:
Verify firmware version matches vendor's patched version; test that information exposure vulnerability no longer exists by attempting to access privileged information without authentication.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unauthorized access attempts to device management interfaces
- Unexpected configuration changes
- Multiple failed authentication attempts
Network Indicators:
- Unusual traffic patterns to/from power quality meters
- Traffic from unexpected source IPs to meter management ports
SIEM Query:
source_ip IN [meter_ips] AND (port=80 OR port=443 OR port=23) AND (status_code=200 OR protocol=TCP) AND NOT source_ip IN [authorized_management_ips]