Siemens Opcenter Quality CVEs: Patch to V2506+ and Harden TLS Now

Siemens has published a security advisory for Opcenter Quality that maps seven distinct CVEs affecting SmartClient modules (Opcenter QL Home), SOA Audit and SOA Cockpit — the vulnerabilities range from incorrect authorization and insufficient session expiration to support for legacy TLS protocols — and Siemens’ fixes and mitigations (including an upgrade to V2506 or later) are the immediate operational priority for affected environments. (tenable.com, cvedetails.com)

Background / Overview​

Opcenter Quality is a component of Siemens’ Opcenter suite used widely in manufacturing quality management and reporting workflows. The recent advisory consolidates multiple weaknesses discovered in SmartClient modules (Opcenter QL Home (SC)), SOA Audit and SOA Cockpit for versions from V13.2 up to, but not including, V2506. Siemens assigned CVE identifiers to each issue and published vendor guidance that recommends upgrading to V2506 or later and following product hardening instructions. Public vulnerability databases and commercial trackers have ingested the vendor advisory and reproduced the CVE mappings and CVSS assessments. (tenable.com)
Why this advisory matters now

• The affected components are management and reporting tools often connected to both IT and OT networks, increasing their operational impact when compromised.
• Several vulnerabilities allow adjacent-network exploitation vectors — an attacker on a connected network segment or a misconfigured remote access path may be able to act against the application.
• Siemens’ advisory consolidates multiple classes of weaknesses (authorization, information disclosure, cryptographic protocol weaknesses, session handling) that together raise the stakes for defenders who must apply layered mitigations quickly. (tenable.com, cvedetails.com)

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Executive technical summary​

• Affected products: SmartClient modules Opcenter QL Home (SC), SOA Audit, SOA Cockpit — all versions ≥ V13.2 and < V2506. (tenable.com)
• Assigned CVEs: CVE‑2024‑41979, CVE‑2024‑41980, CVE‑2024‑41982, CVE‑2024‑41983, CVE‑2024‑41984, CVE‑2024‑41985, CVE‑2024‑41986. (tenable.com, cvedetails.com)
• Overall highest CVSS v3.1 score in the set: 7.1 (Incorrect authorization / CVE‑2024‑41979). (tenable.com)
• Vendor remediation: Update to V2506 or later; follow product hardening and disable legacy TLS protocols. (tenable.com, cvedetails.com)

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Detailed technical breakdown​

CVE‑2024‑41979 — Incorrect authorization (CWE‑863)​

• Summary: Server-side functionality lacks mandatory authorization checks for some operations, allowing authenticated low-privilege users to potentially access or perform operations beyond their privileges. Siemens reports a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.1 for this issue. (tenable.com)
• Impact: An attacker with a valid account could escalate to full-application access or manipulate application-level actions that should be restricted.
• Practical considerations: The requirement for authentication reduces remote anonymous exploitation risk, but the flaw’s business-impact profile is high in environments where many users have broad application access or where single-sign-on / shared credentials are used. (tenable.com)

CVE‑2024‑41980 & CVE‑2024‑41982 — Missing encryption / weak encryption of sensitive data (CWE‑311)​

• Summary: LDAP interface communications are not encrypted by default in some configurations, and other sensitive fields are inadequately protected. These weaknesses can allow exposure of credentials or sensitive configuration data to an adversary with the ability to intercept or read network traffic. Siemens assigned lower CVSS scores to these items (e.g., 3.1 / 4.8 respectively) but the operational risk depends heavily on deployment topology. (tenable.com)
• Impact: Credentials, session identifiers, or configuration values may be intercepted, enabling lateral movement, account takeover, or impersonation in integrated environments.
• Mitigation emphasis: Enable TLS on LDAP, configure TLS properly, and apply least-privilege to LDAP users and application accounts. (tenable.com)

CVE‑2024‑41983 & CVE‑2024‑41984 — Error messages exposing sensitive information (CWE‑209)​

• Summary: Error messages produced by Cockpit reporting tools can include SQL statements or reveal internal application paths and structures; other errors may expose application internals when resources are inaccessible. Siemens scored these issues at mid-to-low severity (CVSS v3.1 scores around 3.5 and 2.6). (tenable.com)
• Impact: Information disclosure through verbose error messages aids an attacker performing reconnaissance and crafting injection or privilege-elevation attacks. In ICS/OT contexts, that intelligence can materially shorten the time to a successful intrusion.
• Practical mitigations: Use dedicated reporting accounts that access database views rather than original schema and harden the web server (IIS) to avoid returning stack traces or SQL text to end-users. (tenable.com)

CVE‑2024‑41985 — Insufficient session expiration (CWE‑613)​

• Summary: Sessions remain valid until explicit logout rather than expiring after an idle timeout; this could be abused if an attacker can access a workstation left unlocked or hijack a session token. Siemens reports a CVSS v3.1 base score of 2.6 for this issue, reflecting the required proximal access vector but recognizes the real-world risks in shared or operator workstation environments. (cvedetails.com, tenable.com)
• Impact: Session persistence increases the chance that unattended consoles or persistent cookies can be used to impersonate legitimate users.
• Mitigation emphasis: Configure appropriate session timeouts, enforce workstation lock policies, and consider additional controls such as re-authentication for sensitive actions. (tenable.com)

CVE‑2024‑41986 — Use of broken or risky cryptographic algorithm (CWE‑327)​

• Summary: The product supports TLS 1.0 and 1.1; Siemens assigns a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.4 to this weakness. Legacy TLS versions are known to be vulnerable to downgrade and other transport-layer attacks; disabling them and enforcing TLS 1.2+ is Siemens’ recommended action. (cvedetails.com)
• Impact: Man‑in‑the‑Middle (MitM) attacks can be feasible in networks where TLS negotiation falls back to insecure protocols, particularly in mixed-vendor or legacy environments.
• Mitigation emphasis: Disable SSLv2/SSLv3/TLS1.0/TLS1.1 on all endpoints, enable and verify TLS 1.2 or TLS 1.3, and check certificate validation and cipher-suite configuration. (cvedetails.com)

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Affected versions and vendor guidance​

• Siemens’ advisory lists all affected SmartClient and SOA module versions from V13.2 up to V2506 (exclusive) and recommends updating to V2506 or later for all affected products. The vendor also provides product-specific hardening guidance and configuration flags (for example, an SSL flag on LDAP configuration). (tenable.com, cvedetails.com)

Key vendor mitigations called out by Siemens

• Upgrade to V2506 or later where available. (tenable.com)
• Operate the SmartClient only in a secured network context and remove tools that call SOAP services from outside the SmartClient. (tenable.com)
• Enable TLS/SSL flags on LDAP, harden IIS, hide version strings, limit reporting accounts to views/synonyms rather than base tables, and prevent end-user scanning of structures. (tenable.com)
• Disable legacy TLS (SSL v2/v3, TLS 1.0/1.1) and ensure TLS 1.2+ is in use. (cvedetails.com)

Note on vendor vs. government publishing: CISA’s practice has been to republish vendor advisories as initial advisories but, since January 10, 2023, CISA does not continue updating Siemens product advisories beyond the initial posting and directs operators to Siemens’ ProductCERT for follow-ups. This shift increases the need for organizations to monitor Siemens’ ProductCERT pages and vendor advisories directly.

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Risk evaluation: what attackers can and cannot do​

• Exploitation vectors vary by CVE: some require authentication (e.g., incorrect authorization), others require local or adjacent network access (session hijack, TLS downgrade), and some enable sensitive information disclosure that supports follow-on attacks (error messages containing SQL). Even lower-scoring CVEs can materially enable larger compromises when chained with other weaknesses. (tenable.com)
• Public exploitation: As of Siemens’ advisory publication and the vendor’s ProductCERT entry ingestion by public trackers, there were no confirmed public exploit campaigns specifically targeting these CVEs reported by the vendor or CISA at time of publication; however, the absence of reported exploitation does not imply the absence of risk, especially where low-complexity adjacent-network vectors exist. This fact should be treated cautiously by defenders. (tenable.com, cvedetails.com)
• Operational impact: In manufacturing and quality systems, a compromise can expose production data, allow manipulation of quality assertions and reporting, and provide an attacker with privileged access to operational workflows — outcomes that can materially affect product integrity, regulatory compliance and safety. (tenable.com)

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Practical remediation and hardening checklist​

Apply the following prioritized steps immediately in affected environments:

1. Upgrade
   1. Apply the vendor update V2506 or later for all Opcenter Quality SmartClient and SOA modules. This is the definitive remediation Siemens recommends. (tenable.com)
2. Cryptography / Transport
   • Disable SSLv2 / SSLv3 and TLS 1.0 / TLS 1.1 across all Opcenter endpoints and ensure TLS 1.2 or TLS 1.3 is enforced. Validate cipher suites and certificate chains. (cvedetails.com)
3. Authentication & Authorization
   • Audit roles and privileges in Opcenter; apply least-privilege to all accounts, including LDAP users and reporting accounts. Remove or restrict tools that expose SOAP endpoints outside the SmartClient context. (tenable.com)
4. Session management
   • Configure reasonable session timeouts and require re‑authentication for sensitive operations. Enforce workstation lock policies and consider short session lifetimes for administrative or remote-access sessions. (tenable.com)
5. Error handling and reporting
   • Suppress detailed SQL text and stack traces from user-facing error messages; use reporting accounts that query views/synonyms rather than base tables to limit schema exposure. Use offline reporting replicas where possible. (tenable.com)
6. Network segmentation & access control
   • Place Opcenter management components in isolated network segments, restrict management ports via firewall ACLs, and avoid exposing management interfaces to the internet. Use VPNs only when necessary and keep VPN appliances/clients patched. (tenable.com)
7. Web server hardening
   • Harden IIS per vendor guidance: hide version strings, disable directory listing, restrict allowable file extensions, and apply application pool isolation and least-privilege accounts. (tenable.com)
8. Monitoring & detection
   • Enable logging on Opcenter components, centralize logs to an enterprise SIEM, monitor for anomalous SOAP/LDAP activity, unexpected error-message frequency, and unusual session reuse events. (tenable.com)

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Detection guidance and forensic indicators​

• Look for unusual or persistent sessions from single IPs without expected logout events (session expiration weakness). (cvedetails.com)
• Monitor web server logs for error responses that contain SQL text or stack traces — those indicate the information-disclosure issues are being triggered. (tenable.com)
• Audit LDAP binds and verify that binds over plain (non‑TLS) connections are not occurring; enable TLS-only LDAP communication and check for downgraded connections. (tenable.com)
• Watch for SOAP calls originating from unexpected endpoints or clients that may indicate external tooling is invoking internal SOAP services that Siemens recommends restricting. (tenable.com)

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Operational analysis: strengths, weaknesses and risk posture​

Strengths in Siemens’ response​

• Consolidated advisory with CVE assignments and version-level remediation guidance gives operators clear, actionable upgrade targets (V2506+).
• Vendor-provided hardening recommendations cover key controls: TLS configuration, LDAP hardening, least-privilege accounts, IIS hardening and operational network segmentation. (tenable.com, cvedetails.com)

Notable weaknesses and operational risks​

• Several vulnerabilities require network adjacency or authenticated access, but manufacturing and engineering networks are frequently bridged to IT environments for reporting and remote management — that real-world topology increases exploitation probability beyond what CVSS numbers might suggest. (tenable.com, cvedetails.com)
• The advisory contains a mix of lower-scoring informational issues (error messages, session timeout) and higher-impact flaws (incorrect authorization), and lower-severity issues can be combined by attackers into effective multi-step campaigns.
• CISA’s policy change (redirecting ongoing Siemens advisory updates to Siemens ProductCERT) means organizations must own monitoring of vendor advisories and cannot rely on repeated CISA republishing for follow-up. This operational burden is material for larger estates with many Siemens components.

Supply-chain and enterprise implications​

• Opcenter components are integrated into larger automation stacks (UMC/UM components, reporting pipelines, SSO and LDAP integration). Attackers that successfully compromise reporting or management modules can obtain data used to influence production decisions or gain footholds into other systems. Cross-product vulnerabilities in Opcenter family products in 2023–2025 illustrate the systemic impact of a single vendor component being exploited. (nvd.nist.gov)

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Detection and incident response playbook (recommended)​

1. Contain and isolate
   • If compromise is suspected, isolate affected Opcenter hosts from the wider network. Implement segmentation to prevent lateral movement.
2. Preserve logs
   • Collect web server logs, application logs, LDAP logs, and any relevant audit trails before rebooting or applying immediate fixes.
3. Patch and harden
   • Apply V2506+ where possible; otherwise, apply compensating controls from the checklist above.
4. Credential reset & rotation
   • Rotate service and administrative credentials, especially any accounts used by reporting or SOAP services.
5. Forensic review
   • Review logs for evidence of SQL errors in responses, unusual SOAP or LDAP traffic, session reuse indicators, and any evidence of privilege escalation.
6. Post-incident remediation
   • Re-assess access models, implement least-privilege, validate TLS configurations, and consider offline reporting instances for high-sensitivity datasets.

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Verification, cross‑checks and what remains unverified​

• The advisory details and CVE mappings are corroborated by multiple independent vulnerability databases and commercial trackers: Tenable and CVE aggregation sites reproduce Siemens’ CVSS numbers and CVE assignments. These independent records confirm the vendor’s technical descriptions and remedial versions. (tenable.com)
• NVD entries for other Opcenter/UMC-related CVEs and historical advisories indicate a pattern of heap-based UMC vulnerabilities and other high-impact flaws across Siemens products; that context reinforces the criticality of thorough patching and inventorying. However, not every claim about exploitability in the wild is verifiable: there were no public, vendor-confirmed exploitation incidents tied specifically to these Opcenter CVEs when the advisories were published — this absence is explicitly noted in vendor and republished advisories, but defenders should treat that absence conservatively because attacks are often underreported. (nvd.nist.gov)

Cautionary note: any statements asserting active exploit campaigns for these specific CVEs should be treated as unverified unless backed by vendor incident reports, CERT bulletins, or cross‑checked threat intelligence feeds. The current public records (vendor advisory plus CVE/third‑party entries) do not document confirmed, widespread exploitation of these seven CVEs. (tenable.com, cvedetails.com)

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Timeline & update history (operationally relevant dates)​

• Siemens published the ProductCERT advisory enumerating the vulnerabilities and mapping to CVEs and fixed versions; Tenable and other trackers published mirrored CVE records on August 12, 2025 (dates per the CVE tracker entries). Organizations should assume vendor advisory dates and CVE publication dates as the start of the remediation window for their own risk assessments. (tenable.com)
• CISA republished Siemens’ advisory material into its ICS advisories collection historically; operators must now consult Siemens ProductCERT for continuing updates rather than expecting iterative CISA updates.

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Final assessment and recommendations​

• Immediate action: Treat the vendor upgrade to V2506+ as highest priority for any asset with versions between V13.2 and V2506. Apply vendor hardening guidance as part of the upgrade process. (tenable.com)
• Medium term: Review identity, authentication and session policies across Opcenter components; remove any external SOAP interfaces or restrict them to known, trusted endpoints only. (tenable.com)
• Long term: Build an inventory-driven patching and monitoring program that includes Siemens ProductCERT subscriptions or automated feeds, because CISA will not provide ongoing updates beyond initial advisories for Siemens products. Integrate Opcenter component telemetry into enterprise OT/IT SIEMs and run regular security assessments that include LDAP/TLS posture checks and web server hardening validation.

Siemens’ advisory for Opcenter Quality bundles several distinct weaknesses that — while varying in raw CVSS severity — combine to form a meaningful operational risk when Opcenter components are connected to multi‑zone networks or when reporting and management workflows expose data to mixed IT/OT environments. The recommended upgrade path and the enumerated hardening steps are straightforward and should be the immediate focus for operators; concurrently, organizations should use this advisory as a prompt to reassess access models, session management and TLS posture across the wider Opcenter/UMC estate. (tenable.com, cvedetails.com)

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Conclusion
The Opcenter Quality advisory is an urgent operational reminder: patch promptly, enforce TLS 1.2+, apply least‑privilege, harden web servers and reporting accounts, and ensure continuous vendor monitoring through Siemens ProductCERT. While no public exploitation campaigns tied specifically to these CVEs were reported at publication, the combination of authorization failures, information disclosure and legacy TLS support represents exactly the class of weaknesses attackers favor when targeting industrial and manufacturing environments — treat the advisory as a remediation mandate, not merely as informational guidance. (tenable.com, cvedetails.com)

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Source: CISA Siemens Opcenter Quality | CISA