BlackTreeIndependent security intelligence
← Back to the CVE catalogue
Full vulnerability report · 2020
CVE-2020-7586High confidence

Siemens SIMATIC PCS 7 V8.2 and earlier — Heap-based Buffer Overflow

Siemens · SIMATIC PCS 7 V8.2 and earlier

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
SSA-689942 · CSAF 2.0 · revision 4 · finalSiemens ProductCERTSSA-689942: Denial-of-Service and DLL Hijacking Vulnerabilities in Multiple SIMATIC Software Products
5 known affected

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

  • SIMATIC PCS 7 V8.2 and earlier
  • SIMATIC PCS 7 V9.0
  • SIMATIC PDM
  • SIMATIC STEP 7 V5.X
  • SINAMICS STARTER (containing STEP 7 OEM version)
Summary
A buffer overflow vulnerability could allow a local attacker to cause a Denial-of-Service situation. The security vulnerability could be exploited by an attacker with local access to the affected systems. Successful exploitation requires user privileges but no user interaction. The vulnerability could allow an attacker to compromise the availability of the system as well as to have access to confidential information.
Remediation
See recommendations from section Workarounds and Mitigations or upgrade to a newer SIMATIC PCS 7 version
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-2020-28711

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 vulnerability has been identified in SIMATIC PCS 7 V8.2 and earlier (All versions), SIMATIC PCS 7 V9.0 (All versions < V9.0 SP3), SIMATIC PDM (All versions < V9.2), SIMATIC STEP 7 V5.X (All versions < V5.6 SP2 HF3), SINAMICS STARTER (containing STEP 7 OEM version) (All versions < V5.4 HF2). A buffer overflow vulnerability could allow a local attacker to cause a Denial-of-Service situation. The security vulnerability could be exploited by an attacker with local access to the affected systems. Successful exploitation requires user privileges but no user interaction. The vulnerability could allow an attacker to compromise the availability of the system as well as to have access to confidential information.

What

A vulnerability has been identified in SIMATIC PCS 7 V8.2 and earlier (All versions), SIMATIC PCS 7 V9.0 (All versions < V9.0 SP3), SIMATIC PDM (All versions < V9.2), SIMATIC STEP 7 V5.X (All versions < V5.6 SP2 HF3), SINAMICS STARTER (containing STEP 7 OEM version) (All versions < V5.4 HF2). A buffer overflow vulnerability could allow a local attacker to cause a Denial-of-Service situation. The security vulnerability could be exploited by an attacker with local access to the affected systems. Successful exploitation requires user privileges but no user interaction. The vulnerability could allow an attacker to compromise the availability of the system as well as to have access to confidential information.

Why

A heap overflow condition is a buffer overflow, where the buffer that can be overwritten is allocated in the heap portion of memory, generally meaning that the buffer was allocated using a routine such as malloc().

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 vulnerability has been identified in SIMATIC PCS 7 V8.2 and earlier (All versions), SIMATIC PCS 7 V9.0 (All versions < V9.0 SP3), SIMATIC PDM (All versions < V9.2), SIMATIC STEP 7 V5.X (All versions < V5.6 SP2 HF3), SINAMICS STARTER (containing STEP 7 OEM version) (All versions < V5.4 HF2). A buffer overflow vulnerability could allow a local attacker to cause a Denial-of-Service situation. The security vulnerability could be exploited by an attacker with local access to the affected systems. Successful exploitation requires user privileges but no user interaction. The vulnerability could allow an attacker to compromise the availability of the system as well as to have access to confidential information.

Why

A heap overflow condition is a buffer overflow, where the buffer that can be overwritten is allocated in the heap portion of memory, generally meaning that the buffer was allocated using a routine such as malloc().

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 → Heap-based Buffer Overflow → 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-122 ↗

CWE-122: Heap-based Buffer Overflow. A heap overflow condition is a buffer overflow, where the buffer that can be overwritten is allocated in the heap portion of memory, generally meaning that the buffer was allocated using a routine such as malloc().

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-122
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-349Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits Siemens

.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-8272 Référence CVE CVE-2019-8273 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-8273 Référence CVE CVE-2019-8274 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-8274 Référence CVE CVE-2019-8275 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-8275 Référence CVE CVE-2019-8276 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-8276 Référence CVE CVE-2019-8277 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-8277 Référence CVE CVE-2019-8280 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-8280 Référence CVE CVE-2020-7580 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-7580 Référence CVE CVE-2020-7585 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-7585 Référence CVE CVE-2020-7586 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-7586 Référence CVE CVE-2020-7589 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-7589 Gestion détaillée du document le 09 juin 2020 Version initiale Alertes Avis Bulletins d’actualités Mentions légales Conditions générales À propos Contact cyber.gouv.fr service-public.fr legifrance.gouv.fr info.gouv.fr france.fr info.gouv.fr/risques Premier Ministre / Secrétariat Général de la Défense et de la Sécurité Nationale / Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d'information

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
SIMATIC PCS 7 V8.2 and earlier; SIMATIC PCS 7 V9.0; SIMATIC PDM; SIMATIC STEP 7 V5.X; SINAMICS STARTER (containing STEP 7 OEM version)
Fixed
No fixed version is explicitly recorded in the structured CVE data.
Action
See recommendations from section Workarounds and Mitigations or upgrade to a newer SIMATIC PCS 7 version
Workaround
No verified workaround is recorded. Limit untrusted access and use least privilege until authoritative guidance is available.
04

Evidence and provenance

Published 10 Jun 2020 · Last source change 4 Aug 2024, 09:33 UTC · CWE-122 · Heap-based Buffer Overflow

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-2020-28711
Product sourceVendor CSAF · Siemens ProductCERT
Remediation sourceVendor CSAF · Siemens ProductCERT
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
ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2020-28711↗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-2020-7586 · cve.blacktree.nl