# CVE-2018-13811: Weak cryptography in SIMATIC STEP 7 (TIA Portal)

> Weak password hashing in Siemens TIA Portal allows local attackers to reconstruct passwords from project files, potentially leading to unauthorized access.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 13 Dec 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h726-fjm4-p2g2

## What is CVE-2018-13811?

CVE-2018-13811 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Siemens AG SIMATIC STEP 7 (TIA Portal), published on 13 Dec 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability has been identified in SIMATIC STEP 7 (TIA Portal) (All Versions < V15.1). Password hashes with insufficient computational effort could allow an attacker to access to a project file and reconstruct passwords. The vulnerability could be exploited by an attacker with local access to the project file. No user interaction is required to exploit the vulnerability. The vulnerability could allow the attacker to obtain certain passwords from the project. At the time of advisory publication no public exploitation of this vulnerability was known.

Weakness: CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor), CWE-916 (Use of Password Hash With Insufficient Computational Effort)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-13811?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Siemens Simatic Step 7 \(Tia Portal\).

## How do I fix CVE-2018-13811?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-13811 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-13811 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-13811 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Siemens AG SIMATIC STEP 7 (TIA Portal)

- [CVE-2018-11454](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-11454/): Misconfiguration in SIMATIC STEP 7 (TIA Portal) and WinCC (TIA Portal) V10, V11, V12, SIMATIC STEP 7 (TIA Portal) and WinCC (TIA Portal) V13, SIMATIC STEP 7 (TIA Portal) and WinCC (TIA Portal) V14, SIMATIC STEP 7 (TIA Portal) and WinCC (TIA Portal) V15 (high 8.6)
- [CVE-2018-11453](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-11453/): Misconfiguration in SIMATIC STEP 7 (TIA Portal) and WinCC (TIA Portal) V10, V11, V12, SIMATIC STEP 7 (TIA Portal) and WinCC (TIA Portal) V13, SIMATIC STEP 7 (TIA Portal) and WinCC (TIA Portal) V14, SIMATIC STEP 7 (TIA Portal) and WinCC (TIA Portal) V15 (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-13811 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-13811 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Siemens AG SIMATIC STEP 7 (TIA Portal), published on 13 Dec 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-13811 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Siemens AG SIMATIC STEP 7 (TIA Portal). No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-13811/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-13811/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-13811
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-13811
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-13811

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-13811/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.