CVE-2021-34565
📋 TL;DR
PEPPERL+FUCHS WirelessHART-Gateway devices versions 3.0.7 to 3.0.9 have SSH and telnet services enabled with hard-coded credentials. This allows attackers to gain unauthorized administrative access to the industrial gateway. Organizations using these specific gateway versions are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- PEPPERL+FUCHS WirelessHART-Gateway
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete compromise of industrial control system gateway leading to disruption of industrial processes, data exfiltration, or manipulation of HART device communications.
Likely Case
Unauthorized administrative access allowing configuration changes, firmware modification, or use as pivot point into industrial networks.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if network segmentation prevents access to gateway services from untrusted networks.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires only knowledge of hard-coded credentials and network access to SSH/telnet services.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 3.0.10 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://cert.vde.com/en-us/advisories/vde-2021-027
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Download firmware version 3.0.10 or later from PEPPERL+FUCHS support portal. 2. Backup current configuration. 3. Upload new firmware via web interface. 4. Reboot gateway. 5. Verify new firmware version.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Network Access Control
allRestrict network access to SSH (port 22) and telnet (port 23) services using firewall rules.
Service Disablement
linuxDisable SSH and telnet services if not required for operations.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict network segmentation to isolate gateway from untrusted networks.
- Monitor for authentication attempts using hard-coded credentials and alert on successful logins.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check firmware version in web interface or via SSH/telnet login using hard-coded credentials.Check Version:
Login to web interface and check System Information page for firmware version.Verify Fix Applied:
Attempt SSH/telnet login with previously known hard-coded credentials - should fail. Verify firmware version is 3.0.10+.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Successful SSH/telnet authentication from unexpected sources
- Multiple failed login attempts followed by success
Network Indicators:
- SSH or telnet connections to gateway from unauthorized IP addresses
- Unusual outbound connections from gateway
SIEM Query:
source="gateway" AND (event="ssh_login" OR event="telnet_login") AND result="success"