# CVE-2018-7502: Privilege escalation in Beckhoff TwinCAT PLC products

> Attackers with local code execution can exploit improper pointer validation in TwinCAT kernel drivers to gain SYSTEM privileges.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **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:** 23 Mar 2018
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** CVE-2017-14776, CVE-2017-14777, CVE-2017-14778, CVE-2017-14779, CVE-2017-14780, CVE-2017-14781, CVE-2017-14782, CVE-2017-14783, CVE-2017-14784, CVE-2017-14785, CVE-2017-14786, CVE-2017-14787, CVE-2017-14788, CVE-2017-14789, CVE-2017-14790, CVE-2017-14791, CVE-2017-14792, CVE-2017-14793, CVE-2017-14794, GHSA-v98p-fx5c-967q

## What is CVE-2018-7502?

CVE-2018-7502 is a high-severity vulnerability in ICS-CERT Beckhoff TwinCAT PLC products, published on 23 Mar 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Kernel drivers in Beckhoff TwinCAT 3.1 Build 4022.4, TwinCAT 2.11 R3 2259, and TwinCAT 3.1 lack proper validation of user-supplied pointer values. An attacker who is able to execute code on the target may be able to exploit this vulnerability to obtain SYSTEM privileges.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation), CWE-822 (Untrusted Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-7502?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Beckhoff Twincat, Beckhoff Twincat C\+\+.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-7502?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-7502 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-7502 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-7502 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in ICS-CERT Beckhoff TwinCAT PLC products

- [CVE-2019-16871](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16871/): Auth bypass in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-16726](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-16726/): Weak cryptography in Beckhoff TwinCAT (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2019-5637](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5637/): Beckhoff TwinCAT Profinet Driver Divide-by-Zero Denial of Service (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2017-16718](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-16718/): Weak cryptography in Beckhoff TwinCAT (medium 5.9)
- [CVE-2020-12494](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-12494/): Beckhoff: Etherleak in TwinCAT RT network driver (medium 5.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-7502 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-7502 is a high-severity vulnerability in ICS-CERT Beckhoff TwinCAT PLC products, published on 23 Mar 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-2018-7502 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: ICS-CERT Beckhoff TwinCAT PLC products. 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-2018-7502/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-7502/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-7502
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-7502
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-7502

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-7502/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.