Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This vulnerability means affected WirelessHART gateway devices may expose SSH and telnet with built-in credentials. If reachable, an attacker could gain privileged access without needing a user to click anything. For industrial environments, that can affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability of gateway operations.
Executive priority
Treat this as urgent for any exposed industrial gateway. The business risk is unauthorized control or disruption of gateway management functions, especially if remote management is reachable beyond tightly controlled networks.
Technical view
CVE-2021-34565 is a CWE-798 hard-coded credentials issue in WirelessHART-Gateway versions 3.0.7 to 3.0.9. The source bundle states SSH and telnet are active with hard-coded credentials. CVSS 3.1 is 9.8, network exploitable, low complexity, no privileges, no user interaction.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where affected gateways are reachable over management networks, plant networks, VPNs, or the internet with SSH or telnet enabled. The source bundle names WHA-GW-F2D2-0-AS-Z2-ETH and WHA-GW-F2D2-0-AS-Z2-ETH.EIP on versions 3.0.7 to 3.0.9.
Exploitation context
The provided data does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. However, hard-coded credentials on active SSH and telnet services create a straightforward remote access risk when devices are reachable.
Researcher notes
The source bundle contains a vendor naming inconsistency: the description references PEPPERL+FUCHS WirelessHART-Gateway, while affected entries list Phoenix Contact products. Do not broaden scope beyond the cited models and versions without confirming vendor advisory details.
Mitigation direction
- Check the VDE advisory and vendor guidance for supported remediation.
- Inventory affected gateway models and firmware versions immediately.
- Remove internet exposure for affected management services.
- Restrict SSH and telnet access to trusted administrative networks only.
- Disable unnecessary remote management services where vendor-supported.
- Prioritize replacement or firmware remediation if vendor guidance requires it.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether listed gateway models run versions 3.0.7 to 3.0.9.
- Review device configuration for active SSH and telnet services.
- Verify management access is segmented from untrusted networks.
- Check firewall, VPN, and remote access paths to affected gateways.
- Review logs for unexpected administrative access attempts.
- Track remediation evidence against asset inventory records.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-798: Credential and account abuse lookup
Authentication and credential weaknesses can make valid-account abuse and credential telemetry useful review starting points. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-34565 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Critical
- CVSS
- 9.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H3.95.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
9.8CriticalVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://cert.vde.com/en-us/advisories/vde-2021-027CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Use of Hard-coded Credentials
Use of Hard-coded Credentials represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.