ICS Advisory

NREL EnergyPlus

Last Revised
Alert Code
ICSA-19-204-02

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  • CVSS v3 6.1
  • ATTENTION: Low skill level to exploit
  • Vendor: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
  • Equipment: EnergyPlus
  • Vulnerability: Stack-based Buffer Overflow

2. RISK EVALUATION

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial-of-service condition.

3. TECHNICAL DETAILS

3.1 AFFECTED PRODUCTS

The following versions of EnergyPlus, an Energy simulation program, are affected:

  • EnergyPlus Versions 8.6.0 and potentially prior releases

3.2 VULNERABILITY OVERVIEW

3.2.1    STACK-BASED BUFFER OVERFLOW CWE-121

The application fails to prevent an exception handler from being overwritten with arbitrary code.

CVE-2019-10974 has been assigned to this vulnerability. A CVSS v3 base score of 6.1 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:L).

3.3 BACKGROUND

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTORS: Energy

COUNTRIES/AREAS DEPLOYED: United States

COMPANY HEADQUARTERS LOCATION: United States

3.4 RESEARCHER

Karn Ganeshen reported this vulnerability to CISA.

4. MITIGATIONS

It is recommended that users update the application to the latest available release, v9.0.1 or later, available at the following location:

https://energyplus.net/

CISA recommends users take defensive measures to minimize the risk of exploitation of this vulnerability. Specifically, users should:

  • Restrict system access to authorized personnel only and follow a least privilege approach.
  • Apply defense-in-depth strategies.
  • Disable unnecessary accounts and services.

CISA reminds organizations to perform proper impact analysis and risk assessment prior to deploying defensive measures.



CISA also provides a section for control systems security recommended practices on the ICS webpage on us-cert.gov. Several recommended practices are available for reading and download, including Improving Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity with Defense-in-Depth Strategies.

Additional mitigation guidance and recommended practices are publicly available in the Technical Information Paper, ICS-TIP-12-146-01B--Targeted Cyber Intrusion Detection and Mitigation Strategies.



Organizations observing any suspected malicious activity should follow their established internal procedures and report their findings to CISA for tracking and correlation against other incidents.

No known public exploits specifically target this vulnerability. This vulnerability is not exploitable remotely.

This product is provided subject to this Notification and this Privacy & Use policy.

Vendor

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)