Automated Logic Patches Flaws in Building Automation System

Kennesaw, Georgia-based building automation systems provider Automated Logic has released updates for its WebCTRL product to address several vulnerabilities, including one rated high severity.

WebCTRL is a building automation system used worldwide in commercial office buildings, mission-critical facilities, educational institutions, healthcare organizations, hotels, and government facilities.

Gjoko Krstic of Macedonia-based Zero Science Lab discovered arbitrary file write, privilege escalation and remote code execution vulnerabilities in some 6.x and 5.x versions of WebCTRL, i-VU and SiteScan products. The i-VU system made by Carrier (a sister company of Automated Logic) and the Liebert SiteScan product can be integrated with WebCTRL.

The most serious of the flaws, with a CVSS score of 8.3 and a risk index of ⅘ assigned by Zero Science Lab, is CVE-2017-9650, an unrestricted file upload issue that allows an authenticated attacker to upload malicious files and execute arbitrary code on the targeted system.

The security hole exists due to WebCTRL’s failure to verify add-on files (.addons and .war) uploaded via the uploadwarfile servlet. An attacker with access to the system, including as an anonymous user, can upload malicious add-on files, which are automatically executed.

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Another vulnerability that could lead to code execution is CVE-2017-9644. This weakness allows an authenticated, non-privileged local user to replace the application’s executable file with a malicious binary. When the application is started, the code in the malicious file gets executed with elevated privileges (i.e. the privileges of the targeted application).

This flaw is less serious as the attacker needs to be able to add their file to the system root path without being detected by the operating system or security products.

The last vulnerability, CVE-2017-9640, allows an attacker with access to the management panel to abuse the ManualCommand() function to write and overwrite arbitrary files on the system, and traverse directories throughout the system. CVE-2017-9640 and CVE-2017-9644 have been classified as medium severity.

The affected vendors have released patches to address the vulnerabilities in versions 6.x. Versions prior to 6.0 are no longer supported.

While Automated Logic does have a vulnerability disclosure program and encourages users to report flaws found in its products, Zero Science Lab claimed that the vendor did not respond after being contacted directly in late March. Researchers informed ICS-CERT about the security holes and the agency contacted Automated Logic, which only got in touch with the researchers in early August.

Zero Science Lab has published advisories for each of the vulnerabilities, including technical details and proof-of-concept (PoC) code.

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