CVE-2022-38773 Security feature bypass in SIMATIC Drive Controller CPU 1504D TF

Medium 4.6 Published 10 Jan 2023 Updated 3 Apr 2025

Attackers with physical access can bypass boot integrity checks to execute arbitrary code on Siemens SIMATIC controllers.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2022-38773?

CVE-2022-38773 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Siemens SIMATIC Drive Controller CPU 1504D TF, published on 10 Jan 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Affected devices do not contain an Immutable Root of Trust in Hardware. With this the integrity of the code executed on the device can not be validated during load-time. An attacker with physical access to the device could use this to replace the boot image of the device and execute arbitrary code.

Weakness: CWE-1326

Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-38773?

It affects 70 products.

Products include Siemens Simatic Drive Controller Cpu 1504d Tf Firmware, Siemens Simatic Drive Controller Cpu 1507d Tf Firmware, Siemens Simatic S7-1500 Cpu 1510sp-1 Pn Firmware, Siemens Simatic S7-1500 Cpu 1510sp F-1 Pn Firmware, Siemens Simatic S7-1500 Cpu 1511-1 Pn Firmware, Siemens Simatic S7-1500 Cpu 1511c-1 Pn Firmware and 64 more.

How do I fix CVE-2022-38773?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-38773 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Is CVE-2022-38773 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-38773 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-4qpv-c2wc-cr4r.