CVE-2023-2637

Administrator escalation via hard-coded cookie key

Published Jun 13, 2023 · Updated Jan 2, 2025

Privilege escalation in Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk System Services 6.20 and earlier allows local users to gain database administrator rights. The service generates administrator cookies with a hard-coded cryptographic key, allowing attacker-generated cookies to be accepted as administrative. A local authenticated non-admin account and later policy deployment by a legitimate user are required; malicious database changes then reach deployed security policy models.

CVSS severity7.3
High
EPSS probability0.20%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Privilege escalation in Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk System Services 6.20 and earlier allows local users to gain database administrator rights. The service generates administrator cookies with a hard-coded cryptographic key, allowing attacker-generated cookies to be accepted as administrative. A local authenticated non-admin account and later policy deployment by a legitimate user are required; malicious database changes then reach deployed security policy models.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-2637
Published
Jun 13, 2023
Updated
Jan 2, 2025
Vendor
Rockwell Automation
Product
FactoryTalk System Services
Classifications
CWE-798, CWE-321, T1550.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jun 13, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Jan 2, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=<= 6.20

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Rockwell Automation · FactoryTalk System Servicesversion=<= 6.20

Published CVSS scores

7.3Rockwell AutomationCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:H
8.2NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-798Use of Hard-coded Credentials
CWE-321Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key
T1550.004Use Alternate Authentication Material: Web Session Cookie

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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