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Full vulnerability report · 2020
CVE-2020-28211High confidence

n/a PLC Simulator on EcoStruxureª Control Expert (now Unity Pro) (all versions) — Incorrect Authorization

n/a · PLC Simulator on EcoStruxureª Control Expert (now Unity Pro) (all versions)

7.8HighCVSS 3.1
Recommended action
Within 7 days

High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Patch available
Direct vendor intelligence

Authoritative vendor CSAF and VEX advisories

Structured product status and remediation from the issuing vendor. Product-state explanations are always visible; large lists can be searched or downloaded.

1 current
SEVD-2020-315-07 · CSAF 2.0 · revision 4.0.0 · finalSchneider Electric CPCERTPLC Simulator on EcoStruxure™ Control Expert and Process Expert
3 known affected

The vendor explicitly identifies these products as affected by this CVE.

  • Schneider Electric PLC Simulator for EcoStruxure™ Control Expert prior to v15.0 SP1
  • Schneider Electric PLC Simulator for Unity Pro (former name of EcoStruxure™ Control Expert) all versions
  • Schneider Electric PLC Simulator for EcoStruxure™ Process Expert all versions
Summary
A CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization vulnerability exists that could cause bypass of authentication when overwriting memory using a debugger.
Remediation
EcoStruxure™ Control Expert Version 15.0 SP1 product includes a fix for the vulnerability CVE-2020-7559 and is available for download here: https://www.se.com/ww/en/download/document/EcoStruxureControlExpert_15SP1 Customers should use appropriate patching methodologies when applying these patches to their systems. We strongly recommend the use of back-ups and evaluating the impact of these patches in a Test and Development environment or on an offline infrastructure. Contact Schneider Electric’s Customer Care Center if you need assistance removing a patch. If customers choose not to apply the remediation provided above, they should immediately follow the recommendations in the Mitigation section below to reduce the risk of exploit.
Optional official sources

National CERT insights
?CERT means Computer Emergency Response Team; CSIRT is the closely related term Computer Security Incident Response Team.

Select the national-authority views to include. The exact source language is shown on each matched advisory. Your choice is remembered on this device and encoded in the shareable URL.

Official European source

ENISA European Vulnerability Database

Official EUVD identifiers, advisory evidence and known-exploited context. Missing fields are not treated as evidence of low risk.

1 current
ENISA EUVD identifier

EUVD-2020-20695

No EUVD known-exploited evidence

ENISA has published the identifier mapping but no EUVD description has been stored yet.

EUVD state
Present in the current official mapping
Known exploitation
Not present in the current ENISA EUVD known-exploited dataset. This is not proof of no exploitation.
ENISA score
Not supplied in the stored EUVD record
Advisory evidence
No linked advisory details stored yet
Recommended actionWithin 7 days

High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Patch available
01

What, why and how

A CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization vulnerability exists in PLC Simulator on EcoStruxureª Control Expert (now Unity Pro) (all versions) that could cause bypass of authentication when overwriting memory using a debugger.

What

A CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization vulnerability exists in PLC Simulator on EcoStruxureª Control Expert (now Unity Pro) (all versions) that could cause bypass of authentication when overwriting memory using a debugger.

Why

The application performs an authorisation check, but it does not correctly enforce the required permission boundary.

How

An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor.

What

A CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization vulnerability exists in PLC Simulator on EcoStruxureª Control Expert (now Unity Pro) (all versions) that could cause bypass of authentication when overwriting memory using a debugger.

Why

The application performs an authorisation check, but it does not correctly enforce the required permission boundary.

How

An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor.

02

Exploit reality and attack path

CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.

Observed exploitation
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
No confirmed evidence

No CISA KEV match was present at the last successful refresh. This means no confirmation from that source, not proof of no exploitation.

Public PoC / exploit material
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
None recorded

No exploit-tagged reference or CISA SSVC proof-of-concept state is currently recorded. Research may still exist outside the structured feeds.

Likely attack path
local access → Incorrect Authorization → cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor
Attack surface
Local
Privileges required
Low: a basic authenticated account is required
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low: no specialised conditions are recorded
Security boundary
Unchanged: impact remains within the vulnerable component's security authority
Weakness
?CWE means Common Weakness Enumeration: a standard category for the underlying weakness.
CWE-863 ↗

CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization. The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check.

CVSS vector
?CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Common Vulnerability Scoring System 3.1: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.

AVLocalAttack vector: The attacker needs local access to the vulnerable system.ACLowAttack complexity: No specialised conditions are required beyond attacker-controlled input.PRLowPrivileges required: The attacker needs basic user-level privileges.UINoneUser interaction: No action by another user is required.SUnchangedScope: The security impact remains within the vulnerable component's authority.CHighConfidentiality impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.IHighIntegrity impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.AHighAvailability impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.
Post-exploitation / living off the land
The issue can support a local privilege or sandbox boundary transition; normal system utilities may then be available in the gained context.
CWE-863
A

Official authority intelligence

Only matched European and national findings are included. Language selectors and unavailable sources are omitted.

CERT-FR · French · CERTFR-2020-AVI-726Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits Schneider Electric

03 du 11 novembre 2020 https://www.se.com/ww/en/download/document/SEVD-2020-315-03/ Bulletin de sécurité Schneider Electric SEVD-2020-315-04 du 11 novembre 2020 https://www.se.com/ww/en/download/document/SEVD-2020-315-04/ Bulletin de sécurité Schneider Electric SEVD-2020-315-05 du 11 novembre 2020 https://www.se.com/ww/en/download/document/SEVD-2020-315-05/ Bulletin de sécurité Schneider Electric SEVD-2020-315-06 du 11 novembre 2020 https://www.se.com/ww/en/download/document/SEVD-2020-315-06/ Bulletin de sécurité Schneider Electric SEVD-2020-315-07 du 11 novembre 2020 https://www.se.com/ww/en/download/document/SEVD-2020-315-07/ Référence CVE CVE-2020-28211 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-28211 Référence CVE CVE-2020-28212 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-28212 Référence CVE CVE-2020-28213 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-28213 Référence CVE CVE-2020-7538 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-7538 Référence CVE CVE-2020-7544 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-7544 Référence CVE CVE-2020-7550 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-7550 Référence CVE CVE-2020-7551 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-7551 Référence CVE CVE-2020-7552 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-7552 Référence CVE CVE-2020-7553 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-75

Official advisory
03

Patch and workaround

Operational remediation based on structured source evidence.

Status
?Patch availability is based on structured fixed-version fields and authoritative update references. If no fix is verified, check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Patch available
Affected
Schneider Electric PLC Simulator for EcoStruxure™ Control Expert prior to v15.0 SP1; Schneider Electric PLC Simulator for Unity Pro (former name of EcoStruxure™ Control Expert) all versions; Schneider Electric PLC Simulator for EcoStruxure™ Process Expert all versions
Fixed
An authoritative update reference is available, but the fixed version is not recorded in the structured CVE fields. Check the linked vendor advisory for the applicable release.
Action
EcoStruxure™ Control Expert Version 15.0 SP1 product includes a fix for the vulnerability CVE-2020-7559 and is available for download here: https://www.se.com/ww/en/download/document/EcoStruxureControlExpert_15SP1 Customers should use appropriate patching methodologies when applying these patches to their systems. We strongly recommend the use of back-ups and evaluating the impact of these patches in a Test and Development environment or on an offline infrastructure. Contact Schneider Electric’s Customer Care Center if you need assistance removing a patch. If customers choose not to apply the remediation provided above, they should immediately follow the recommendations in the Mitigation section below to reduce the risk of exploit.
Workaround
No verified workaround is recorded. Limit untrusted access and use least privilege until authoritative guidance is available.
04

Evidence and provenance

Published 19 Nov 2020 · Last source change 4 Aug 2024, 16:33 UTC · CWE-863 · Incorrect Authorization

CVE recordCVE.org · 5.1
CVSS sourceNIST NVD
EPSS source
?The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.
FIRST · tracked since 2026-08-14
European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2020-20695
Product sourceVendor CSAF · Schneider Electric CPCERT
Remediation sourceVendor CSAF · Schneider Electric CPCERT
CWE sourceCNA
NVD statusNVD modified after enrichment

Core structured fields are present and their contributing authorities are shown above.

Material change intelligence

What changed after publication

View recent updates →

No material field changes have been recorded since change tracking began. Routine source refreshes and cosmetic edits are intentionally excluded.

Material fields only · duplicate refreshes suppressed · history retained for the configured operational retention period
CVE published
Fixed release or patch reference recorded
ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2020-20695↗Vendor CSAF · Schneider Electric CPCERT↗CVE authority or vendor reference↗Official CVE record (CNA and ADP data)↗NVD record↗
Technical terms and abbreviations used in this report
CVE
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: the public identifier for one disclosed vulnerability.
CVSS
Common Vulnerability Scoring System: a technical severity framework; it is not patching priority by itself.
EPSS
Exploit Prediction Scoring System: FIRST's estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days; it is a forecast, not confirmation.
CWE
Common Weakness Enumeration: the standard category describing the underlying software or hardware weakness.
CNA
CVE Numbering Authority: an organisation authorised to assign and publish CVE records.
CISA ADP
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Authorized Data Publisher: structured enrichment added to a CVE record.
NVD
National Vulnerability Database: NIST's enrichment service for CVE records.
CERT / CSIRT
A computer security incident response team that publishes warnings or coordinates incident response.
PoC
Proof of concept: public material that demonstrates or helps reproduce exploitation.
CSAF
Common Security Advisory Framework: a machine-readable format for security advisories.
LoTL
Living off the land: abuse of legitimate tools or system functions during an attack.
Free version - for non-commercial use only.CVE-2020-28211 · cve.blacktree.nl