# CVE-2023-5768: Denial of service in RTU500 series

> An attacker can cause a denial of service on the communication link of Hitachi Energy RTU500 series devices by sending malformed APDU frames.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 4 Dec 2023
- **Updated:** 2 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-gv34-7cg2-7vfg

## What is CVE-2023-5768?

CVE-2023-5768 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Hitachi Energy RTU500 series, published on 4 Dec 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability exists in the HCI IEC 60870-5-104 that affects the RTU500 series product versions listed below. 
Incomplete or wrong received APDU frame layout may 
cause blocking on link layer. Error reason was an endless blocking when reading incoming frames on link layer 
with wrong length information of APDU or delayed reception 
of data octets.

Only communication link of affected HCI IEC 60870-5-104 
is blocked. If attack sequence stops the communication to 
the previously attacked link gets normal again.

Weakness: CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-5768?

It affects 4 products.


Products: Hitachienergy Rtu520 Firmware, Hitachienergy Rtu530 Firmware, Hitachienergy Rtu540 Firmware, Hitachienergy Rtu560 Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-5768?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-5768 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-5768 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-5768 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Hitachi Energy RTU500 series

- [CVE-2026-1773](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-1773/): Denial of service in RTU500 series CMU firmware (high 8.7)
- [CVE-2022-2081](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-2081/): Denial of service in RTU500 series CMU firmware (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2023-5767](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5767/): Cross-site scripting in RTU500 (medium 6.0)
- [CVE-2023-5769](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5769/): Cross-site scripting in RTU500 (medium 5.4)
- [CVE-2026-1772](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-1772/): Information disclosure in RTU500 series CMU firmware (medium 5.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-5768 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-5768 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Hitachi Energy RTU500 series, published on 4 Dec 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-5768 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Hitachi Energy RTU500 series. 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-2023-5768/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5768/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-5768
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-5768
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-5768

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5768/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.