CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2020-15786 — A vulnerability has been identified in SIMATIC HMI Basic Panels 2nd Generation (incl

Critical CVSS 9.8

A vulnerability has been identified in SIMATIC HMI Basic Panels 2nd Generation (incl. SIPLUS variants) (All versions < V16), SIMATIC HMI Comfort Panels (incl. SIPLUS variants) (All versions <= V16), SIMATIC HMI Mobile Panels (All versions <= V16), SIMATIC HMI Unified Comfort Panels (All versions <= V16). Affected devices insufficiently block excessive authentication attempts. This could allow a remote attacker to discover user passwords and obtain access to the Sm@rt Server via a brute-force attack.

Severity
Critical
CVSS
9.8 (3.1)
Published
2020-09-09
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
operating-system
Weaknesses
CWE-307

Affected products

  • siemens / simatic_hmi_basic_panels_2nd_generation_firmware
  • siemens / simatic_hmi_comfort_panels_firmware
  • siemens / simatic_hmi_mobile_panels_firmware
  • siemens / simatic_hmi_united_comfort_panels_firmware

Matched remediation archetype

Authentication bypass and missing authentication

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Check exposure

  • Map every affected endpoint and protocol path, including alternate ports, legacy routes, recovery flows, service accounts, and machine-to-machine access.
  • Confirm which deployments enable the affected authentication mode and whether the interface is reachable from untrusted networks.
  • Review session, token, credential, and proxy trust configuration without attempting account takeover.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and centralize fail-closed authentication before protected request handling.
  • Remove default or embedded credentials, rotate affected secrets and sessions, and bind authentication decisions to the intended audience and channel.
  • Add negative tests for alternate routes, malformed or absent credentials, recovery flows, and proxy-derived identity.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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