Refrigeration Controller Hack Spoils Food Across European Supermarkets

Attackers remotely compromised refrigeration controllers from Danfoss used in supermarkets across Europe, manipulating temperature settings to 50°C and causing widespread defrosting and food spoilage. The attack impacted over 300 supermarket locations, primarily in France but also in several other European countries. This large-scale disruption exploited a vulnerability in the centralized management platform AK-SM 800A, recently disclosed by Claroty, which allows authentication bypass and remote code execution. Claroty recommended upgrading to firmware version R4.3.1 to mitigate these vulnerabilities. The attack demonstrates the operational impact of compromising industrial control systems managing critical refrigeration infrastructure.

The attack caused significant operational disruption by spoiling food products due to elevated temperatures in refrigeration units, resulting in millions of euros in financial losses. It affected hundreds of supermarkets across multiple European countries, compromising food supply chains and causing reputational damage to affected retailers. The incident highlights the risk of vulnerabilities in industrial control systems leading to physical and economic damage.

Claroty has released firmware version R4.3.1 for the Danfoss AK-SM 800A management platform, which addresses the disclosed vulnerabilities. Customers are strongly urged to upgrade to this patched firmware to prevent exploitation. Until patched, restrict access to management interfaces and monitor for unauthorized configuration changes. No vendor advisory states that the issue is already mitigated or requires no action. Patch status is confirmed by the vendor advisory from Claroty recommending firmware upgrade.