CVE-2024-48882 identifies a denial of service (DoS) vulnerability in the Socomec DIRIS Digiware M-70 device, specifically in its Modbus TCP communication interface. The root cause is a missing authentication mechanism (CWE-306) for critical functions, allowing unauthenticated attackers to send specially crafted Modbus TCP packets that cause the device to crash or become unresponsive. The affected version is 1.6.9. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 score of 8.6, reflecting high severity due to its network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), no user interaction (UI:N), and a scope change (S:C) indicating that the impact extends beyond the vulnerable component. The impact is limited to availability (A:H), with no confidentiality or integrity loss. The device is commonly used in industrial power monitoring and energy management systems, where continuous availability is critical. Exploitation can be performed remotely without authentication, increasing the risk of disruption. No patches or exploits are currently reported, but the vulnerability poses a significant risk to operational continuity. The lack of authentication on Modbus TCP is a critical design flaw that can be exploited by attackers to disrupt monitoring and control systems, potentially leading to cascading failures in industrial environments.

For European organizations, especially those in industrial, manufacturing, and critical infrastructure sectors, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to operational availability. The DIRIS Digiware M-70 is used for power monitoring and energy management, so a denial of service could lead to loss of visibility into power consumption and potential failure to detect power anomalies or faults. This can disrupt industrial processes, cause downtime, and impact energy efficiency initiatives. In critical infrastructure environments such as utilities or data centers, such disruptions could have broader implications, including safety risks and regulatory non-compliance. The ease of exploitation without authentication means that attackers could launch DoS attacks from within the network or potentially from external sources if the device is exposed. This could lead to operational interruptions, financial losses, and reputational damage. The absence of known exploits in the wild provides a window for proactive mitigation, but the high severity score underscores the urgency of addressing this vulnerability.

1. Immediately isolate DIRIS Digiware M-70 devices from untrusted networks and restrict Modbus TCP traffic to trusted management networks only. 2. Implement strict network segmentation and firewall rules to block unauthorized access to Modbus TCP ports (typically port 502). 3. Monitor network traffic for unusual or malformed Modbus packets that could indicate exploitation attempts. 4. Engage with Socomec support to obtain firmware updates or patches addressing this vulnerability as they become available. 5. If patching is not immediately possible, consider deploying intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) with signatures or anomaly detection for Modbus protocol misuse. 6. Conduct regular security assessments of industrial control systems to identify and remediate similar authentication weaknesses. 7. Train operational technology (OT) personnel on the risks of unauthenticated protocols and the importance of network controls. 8. Maintain an inventory of all devices running DIRIS Digiware M-70 and verify their firmware versions to prioritize remediation efforts.