CVE-2024-13955 is a critical security vulnerability classified as a 2nd Order SQL Injection affecting ABB's ASPECT-Enterprise, NEXUS Series, and MATRIX Series products up to version 3.*. The vulnerability arises from improper neutralization of special elements used in SQL commands (CWE-89), allowing attackers to manipulate backend database queries. Specifically, this 2nd Order SQL Injection means that malicious input is stored by the application and later executed in a different context without proper sanitization, increasing the risk of unauthorized database access and manipulation. Exploitation requires that an attacker first compromise administrator credentials, which then enables them to leverage this vulnerability to execute arbitrary SQL commands with elevated privileges. The CVSS 4.0 score of 9.4 (critical) reflects the high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, with network attack vector, low attack complexity, no user interaction, and only low privileges required initially. The vulnerability affects critical industrial and enterprise control systems managed by ABB, which are often used in infrastructure, manufacturing, and energy sectors. No known public exploits have been reported yet, but the critical severity and nature of the flaw make it a significant risk if weaponized. The lack of available patches at the time of publication further exacerbates the threat landscape for affected organizations.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2024-13955 can be severe, especially those relying on ABB's ASPECT-Enterprise and related products for industrial automation, energy management, and critical infrastructure control. Successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive operational data, manipulation or corruption of control commands, and potential disruption of industrial processes. This could result in operational downtime, safety hazards, financial losses, and damage to reputation. Given the critical nature of these systems in sectors such as energy, manufacturing, and utilities, the vulnerability poses a risk not only to individual organizations but also to broader supply chains and national infrastructure resilience. The requirement for compromised administrator credentials means that organizations with weak credential management or insufficient access controls are at higher risk. Additionally, the ability to execute high-impact SQL commands could facilitate lateral movement within networks and data exfiltration, increasing the overall threat.

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should prioritize the following actions: 1) Immediately audit and strengthen administrator credential security by enforcing strong, unique passwords and implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) where possible to reduce the risk of credential compromise. 2) Restrict and monitor administrative access to ABB ASPECT-Enterprise and related systems, employing network segmentation and least privilege principles to limit exposure. 3) Conduct thorough input validation and sanitization reviews in custom integrations or extensions interacting with these ABB products to detect and remediate potential injection points. 4) Monitor logs and network traffic for unusual database queries or access patterns indicative of exploitation attempts. 5) Engage with ABB for timely updates or patches addressing CVE-2024-13955 and apply them as soon as they become available. 6) Implement application-layer firewalls or database activity monitoring solutions that can detect and block suspicious SQL commands. 7) Develop and test incident response plans specific to industrial control system compromises to ensure rapid containment and recovery. These targeted measures go beyond generic advice by focusing on credential security, access control, monitoring, and vendor coordination specific to the affected ABB products and the nature of the 2nd Order SQL Injection.