Evidence used
- No CISA KEV confirmation is currently recorded.
- Exploitation requires an existing local or physical foothold with privileges.
- EPSS is 0.20% for the current model date.
BlackTreeCVE IntelligenceFull vulnerability report · 2023
CVE-2023-2637High confidence
Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk System Services Vulnerable To Use Of Hard-Coded Cryptographic Key
Rockwell Automation · FactoryTalk System Services
7.3HighCVSS 3.1
Within 7 days
Patch availableHigh technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.
R
Open reassessment dashboard →Operational reassessment
Published severity in operational context
Published severityHigh→Operational priority:Medium, lowered one band.downgradedsince 2 Jan 2025
Compensating controls
- Validate the affected product branch and deploy the verified fixed release.
- Restrict local access and enforce least privilege on affected hosts.
- Monitor vendor guidance and exploitation sources for a material change.
Verification
- Confirm that the asset runs Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk System Services and falls inside the recorded affected range.
- Verify the installed build against the product-specific fixed version after deployment.
- Validate exposure, authentication requirements and compensating controls in the actual environment.
- Reopen this reassessment when CVSS, KEV, EPSS, exploit evidence or remediation changes.
High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.
Patch available01
What, why and how
Rockwell Automation's FactoryTalk System Services uses a hard-coded cryptographic key to generate administrator cookies. Hard-coded cryptographic key may lead to privilege escalation. This vulnerability may allow a local, authenticated non-admin user to generate an invalid administrator cookie giving them administrative privileges to the FactoryTalk Policy Manger database. This may allow the threat actor to make malicious changes to the database that will be deployed when a legitimate FactoryTalk Policy Manager user deploys a security policy model. User interaction is required for this vulnerability to be successfully exploited.
What
Rockwell Automation's FactoryTalk System Services uses a hard-coded cryptographic key to generate administrator cookies. Hard-coded cryptographic key may lead to privilege escalation. This vulnerability may allow a local, authenticated non-admin user to generate an invalid administrator cookie giving them administrative privileges to the FactoryTalk Policy Manger database. This may allow the threat actor to make malicious changes to the database that will be deployed when a legitimate FactoryTalk Policy Manager user deploys a security policy model. User interaction is required for this vulnerability to be successfully exploited.
Why
The product uses a hard-coded, unchangeable cryptographic key.
How
An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may gain additional privileges.
What
Rockwell Automation's FactoryTalk System Services uses a hard-coded cryptographic key to generate administrator cookies. Hard-coded cryptographic key may lead to privilege escalation. This vulnerability may allow a local, authenticated non-admin user to generate an invalid administrator cookie giving them administrative privileges to the FactoryTalk Policy Manger database. This may allow the threat actor to make malicious changes to the database that will be deployed when a legitimate FactoryTalk Policy Manager user deploys a security policy model. User interaction is required for this vulnerability to be successfully exploited.
Why
The product uses a hard-coded, unchangeable cryptographic key.
How
An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may gain additional privileges.
02
Exploit reality and attack path
CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.
Observed exploitation No confirmed evidence
?
Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.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 None recorded
?
Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.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 → Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key → gain additional privileges
- Attack surface
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low: a basic authenticated account is required
- User interaction
- Required interaction required
- Attack complexity
- Low: no specialised conditions are recorded
- Security boundary
- Changed: exploitation can affect a different security authority
- Weakness
?
CWE means Common Weakness Enumeration: a standard category for the underlying weakness. - CWE-321 ↗
CWE-321: Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key. The product uses a hard-coded, unchangeable cryptographic key.
- 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:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:HCommon 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.UIRequiredUser interaction: Another user must perform an action for exploitation to succeed.SChangedScope: The attack can affect a component governed by a different security authority.CLowConfidentiality impact: A successful attack can cause a limited loss.ILowIntegrity impact: A successful attack can cause a limited 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.
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
- Action
- Review the linked authoritative reference and apply the recorded fixed release appropriate to the affected product branch.
- Workaround
- No verified workaround is recorded. Limit untrusted access and use least privilege until authoritative guidance is available.
04
Evidence and provenance
Published 13 Jun 2023 · Last source change 2 Jan 2025, 20:42 UTC · CWE-321 · Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key
CVE recordCVE.org · 5.1
CVSS sourceCNA
EPSS source FIRST · tracked since 2026-08-14
?
The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2023-34103
Product sourceCNA
Remediation sourceCVE/CNA references
CWE sourceCNA
NVD statusNVD modified after enrichment
Core structured fields are present and their contributing authorities are shown above.
Material change intelligence
View recent updates ↗What changed after publication
No material field changes have been recorded since change tracking began. Routine source refreshes and cosmetic edits are intentionally excluded.
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.