Accessibility Statement Skip Navigation
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists
  • +44 (0)20 7454 5110
  • Client Login
  • Send a Release
Return to PR Newswire homepage
  • News
  • Products
  • Contact
When typing in this field, a list of search results will appear and be automatically updated as you type.

Searching for your content...

No results found. Please change your search terms and try again.
  • News in Focus
      • Browse News Releases

      • All Public Company News
      • All Multimedia News
      • View All News Releases

      • Regulatory News

      • D/A/CH Regulatory News
      • UK Regulatory News
      • View All Regulatory News

  • Business & Money
      • Auto & Transportation

      • Aerospace & Defense
      • Air Freight
      • Airlines & Aviation
      • Automotive
      • Maritime & Shipbuilding
      • Railroads & Intermodal Transportation
      • Supply Chain/Logistics
      • Transportation, Trucking & Railroad
      • Travel
      • Trucking & Road Transportation
      • View All Auto & Transportation

      • Business Technology

      • Blockchain
      • Broadcast Tech
      • Computer & Electronics
      • Computer Hardware
      • Computer Software
      • Data Analytics
      • Electronic Commerce
      • Electronic Components
      • Electronic Design Automation
      • Financial Technology
      • High Tech Security
      • Internet Technology
      • Nanotechnology
      • Networks
      • Peripherals
      • Semiconductors
      • View All Business Technology

      • Entertain­ment & Media

      • Advertising
      • Art
      • Books
      • Entertainment
      • Film & Motion Picture
      • Magazines
      • Music
      • Publishing & Information Services
      • Radio & Podcast
      • Television
      • View All Entertain­ment & Media

      • Financial Services & Investing

      • Accounting News & Issues
      • Acquisitions, Mergers & Takeovers
      • Banking & Financial Services
      • Bankruptcy
      • Bond & Stock Ratings
      • Conference Call Announcements
      • Contracts
      • Cryptocurrency
      • Dividends
      • Earnings
      • Earnings Forecasts & Projections
      • Financing Agreements
      • Insurance
      • Investments Opinions
      • Joint Ventures
      • Mutual Funds
      • Private Placement
      • Real Estate
      • Restructuring & Recapitalisation
      • Sales Reports
      • Shareholder Activism
      • Shareholder Meetings
      • Stock Offering
      • Stock Split
      • Venture Capital
      • View All Financial Services & Investing

      • General Business

      • Awards
      • Commercial Real Estate
      • Corporate Expansion
      • Earnings
      • Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
      • Human Resource & Workforce Management
      • Licensing
      • New Products & Services
      • Obituaries
      • Outsourcing Businesses
      • Overseas Real Estate (non-US)
      • Personnel Announcements
      • Real Estate Transactions
      • Residential Real Estate
      • Small Business Services
      • Socially Responsible Investing
      • Surveys, Polls & Research
      • Trade Show News
      • View All General Business

  • Science & Tech
      • Consumer Technology

      • Artificial Intelligence
      • Blockchain
      • Cloud Computing/Internet of Things
      • Computer Electronics
      • Computer Hardware
      • Computer Software
      • Consumer Electronics
      • Cryptocurrency
      • Data Analytics
      • Electronic Commerce
      • Electronic Gaming
      • Financial Technology
      • Mobile Entertainment
      • Multimedia & Internet
      • Peripherals
      • Social Media
      • STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Math)
      • Supply Chain/Logistics
      • Wireless Communications
      • View All Consumer Technology

      • Energy & Natural Resources

      • Alternative Energies
      • Chemical
      • Electrical Utilities
      • Gas
      • General Manufacturing
      • Mining
      • Mining & Metals
      • Oil & Energy
      • Oil & Gas Discoveries
      • Utilities
      • Water Utilities
      • View All Energy & Natural Resources

      • Environ­ment

      • Conservation & Recycling
      • Environmental Issues
      • Environmental Policy
      • Environmental Products & Services
      • Green Technology
      • Natural Disasters
      • View All Environ­ment

      • Heavy Industry & Manufacturing

      • Aerospace & Defence
      • Agriculture
      • Chemical
      • Construction & Building
      • General Manufacturing
      • HVAC (Heating, Ventilation & Air-Conditioning)
      • Machinery
      • Machine Tools, Metalworking & Metallurgy
      • Mining
      • Mining & Metals
      • Paper, Forest Products & Containers
      • Precious Metals
      • Textiles
      • Tobacco
      • View All Heavy Industry & Manufacturing

      • Telecomm­unications

      • Carriers & Services
      • Mobile Entertainment
      • Networks
      • Peripherals
      • Telecommunications Equipment
      • Telecommunications Industry
      • VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)
      • Wireless Communications
      • View All Telecomm­unications

  • Lifestyle & Health
      • Consumer Products & Retail

      • Animals & Pets
      • Beers, Wines & Spirits
      • Beverages
      • Bridal Services
      • Cannabis
      • Cosmetics & Personal Care
      • Fashion
      • Food & Beverages
      • Furniture & Furnishings
      • Home Improvement
      • Household, Consumer & Cosmetics
      • Household Products
      • Jewellery
      • Non-Alcoholic Beverages
      • Office Products
      • Organic Food
      • Product Recalls
      • Restaurants
      • Retail
      • Supermarkets
      • Toys
      • View All Consumer Products & Retail

      • Entertain­ment & Media

      • Advertising
      • Art
      • Books
      • Entertainment
      • Film & Motion Picture
      • Magazines
      • Music
      • Publishing & Information Services
      • Radio & Podcast
      • Television
      • View All Entertain­ment & Media

      • Health

      • Biometrics
      • Biotechnology
      • Clinical Trials & Medical Discoveries
      • Dentistry
      • FDA Approval
      • Fitness/Wellness
      • Health Care & Hospitals
      • Health Insurance
      • Infection Control
      • International Medical Approval
      • Medical Equipment
      • Medical Pharmaceuticals
      • Mental Health
      • Pharmaceuticals
      • Supplementary Medicine
      • View All Health

      • Sports

      • General Sports
      • Outdoors, Camping & Hiking
      • Sporting Events
      • Sports Equipment & Accessories
      • View All Sports

      • Travel

      • Amusement Parks & Tourist Attractions
      • Gambling & Casinos
      • Hotels & Resorts
      • Leisure & Tourism
      • Outdoors, Camping & Hiking
      • Passenger Aviation
      • Travel Industry
      • View All Travel

  • Policy & Public Interest
      • Policy & Public Interest

      • Animal Welfare
      • Corporate Social Responsibility
      • Economic News, Trends & Analysis
      • Education
      • Environmental
      • European Government
      • Labour & Union
      • Natural Disasters
      • Not For Profit
      • Public Safety
      • View All Policy & Public Interest

  • People & Culture
      • People & Culture

      • Aboriginal, First Nations & Native American
      • African American
      • Asian American
      • Children
      • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
      • Hispanic
      • Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual
      • Men's Interest
      • People with Disabilities
      • Religion
      • Senior Citizens
      • Veterans
      • Women
      • View All People & Culture

  • Overview
  • Distribution
  • Paid Placement
  • Multimedia
  • Disclosure Services
  • SocialBoost
  • Rooms
    • MediaRoom
    • ESG Rooms
  • AI Tools
  • General Enquiries
  • Media Enquiries
  • Partnerships
  • Hamburger menu
  • Cision PR Newswire UK provides press release distribution, targeting, monitoring, and marketing services
  • Send a Release
    • Phone

    • +44 (0)20 7454 5110 from 8 AM - 5:30 PM GMT

    • ALL CONTACT INFO
    • Contact Us

      +44 (0)20 7454 5110
      from 8 AM - 5:30 PM GMT

  • Client Login
  • Send a Release
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists
  • News in Focus
    • Browse News Releases
    • Regulatory News
  • Business & Money
    • Auto & Transportation
    • Business Technology
    • Entertain­ment & Media
    • Financial Services & Investing
    • General Business
  • Science & Tech
    • Consumer Technology
    • Energy & Natural Resources
    • Environ­ment
    • Heavy Industry & Manufacturing
    • Telecomm­unications
  • Lifestyle & Health
    • Consumer Products & Retail
    • Entertain­ment & Media
    • Health
    • Sports
    • Travel
  • Policy & Public Interest
    • Policy & Public Interest
  • People & Culture
    • People & Culture
  • Client Login
  • Send a Release
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists
  • Overview
  • Distribution
  • Paid Placement
  • Multimedia
  • Disclosure Services
  • Cision Communications Cloud®
  • AI Tools
  • Client Login
  • Send a Release
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists
  • General Enquiries
  • Media Enquiries
  • Partnerships
  • Client Login
  • Send a Release
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists

Armis Finds Three Critical Zero-Day Vulnerabilities in APC Smart-UPS Devices, Dubbed "TLStorm," Exposing More than 20 Million Enterprise Devices

This image opens in the lightbox

News provided by

Armis

08 Mar, 2022, 11:00 GMT

Share this article

Share toX

Share this article

Share toX

Vulnerabilities found in widely-used Uninterruptible Power Supplies could allow attackers to bypass security features and remotely take over or damage critical industrial, medical, and enterprise devices

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Armis, the leader in unified asset visibility and security, announced today the discovery of three zero-day vulnerabilities in APC Smart-UPS devices that can allow attackers to gain remote access. If exploited, these vulnerabilities, collectively known as TLStorm, allow threat actors to disable, disrupt, and destroy APC Smart-UPS devices and attached assets.

Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) devices provide emergency backup power for mission-critical assets in data centers, industrial facilities, hospitals, and more. APC is a subsidiary of Schneider Electric and is one of the leading vendors of UPS devices, with over 20 million devices sold worldwide.

"Until recently, assets, such as UPS devices, were not perceived as security liabilities. However, it has become clear that security mechanisms in remotely managed devices have not been properly implemented, meaning that malicious actors will be able to use those vulnerable assets as an attack vector," said Barak Hadad, Head of Research, Armis. "It is vital that security professionals have complete visibility of all assets, along with the ability to monitor their behavior, to identify exploitation attempts of vulnerabilities such as TLStorm."

Enterprise Risk Exposure

Armis researches and analyzes various assets to help security leaders protect their organizations from new threats. For this research, Armis investigated APC Smart-UPS devices and their remote management and monitoring services due to the widespread use of APC UPS devices in our customers' environments. The latest models use a cloud connection for remote management. Armis researchers found that an attacker exploiting the TLStorm vulnerabilities could remotely take over devices via the Internet without any user interaction or signs of attack.

The discovered vulnerabilities include two critical vulnerabilities in the TLS implementation used by cloud-connected Smart-UPS devices and a third high-severity vulnerability, a design flaw, in which firmware upgrades of most Smart-UPS devices are not correctly signed or validated.

Two of the vulnerabilities involve the TLS connection between the UPS and the Schneider Electric cloud. Devices that support the SmartConnect feature automatically establish a TLS connection upon startup or whenever cloud connections are temporarily lost. Attackers can trigger the vulnerabilities via unauthenticated network packets without any user interaction.

  • CVE-2022-22805 - (CVSS 9.0) TLS buffer overflow: A memory corruption bug in packet reassembly (RCE).
  • CVE-2022-22806 - (CVSS 9.0) TLS authentication bypass: A state confusion in the TLS handshake leads to authentication bypass, leading to remote code execution (RCE) using a network firmware upgrade.

The third vulnerability is a design flaw in which the firmware updates on affected devices are not cryptographically signed in a secure manner. As a result, an attacker could craft malicious firmware and install it using various paths, including the Internet, LAN, or a USB thumb drive. This modified firmware could allow attackers to establish long-lasting persistence on such UPS devices that can be used as a stronghold within the network to launch additional attacks.

  • CVE-2022-0715 - (CVSS 8.9) Unsigned firmware upgrade that can be updated over the network (RCE).

Abusing flaws in firmware upgrade mechanisms is becoming a standard practice of APTs, as has been recently detailed in the analysis of the Cyclops Blink malware, and improper signing of firmware is a recurring flaw in various embedded systems. For example, a previous vulnerability discovered by Armis in Swisslog PTS systems (PwnedPiper, CVE-2021-37160) resulted from a similar type of flaw.

"TLStorm vulnerabilities occur in cyber-physical systems that bridge our digital and physical worlds, giving cyberattacks the possibility of real-world consequences," said Yevgeny Dibrov, CEO and Co-founder of Armis. "The Armis platform addresses this hyper-connected reality, where one compromised identity and device can open the door to cyberattacks, and the security of every asset has become foundational to protect business continuity and brand reputation. Our ongoing research secures organizations by providing 100% complete visibility of their IT, cloud, IoT, OT, IoMT,  5G, and edge assets."

Updates and Mitigations

Schneider Electric worked in collaboration with Armis on this matter, and customers were notified and issued patches to address the vulnerabilities. To the best of both companies' knowledge, there is no indication the TLStorm vulnerabilities have been exploited.

Organizations deploying APC Smart-UPS devices should patch impacted devices immediately. More information can be found in the Schneider Electric security advisory here.

Armis customers can immediately identify APC Smart-UPS devices that are vulnerable in their environments and begin remediation. To speak with an Armis expert and experience our award-winning agentless device security platform, click here.

Research Presentations

Armis experts will discuss the TLStorm research during the following virtual and in-person events:

  • Webinar (Wednesday, March 30, 1:00 p.m. EST): Lightning from the Cloud
  • LinkedIn Live (Thursday, March 10, 2022, 12:00 p.m. EST): Lightning from the Cloud
  • Nullcon Berlin 2022 (April 5-9, 2022) - Finding and Exploiting Critical Bugs in TLS Libraries used by "Smart" UPS Devices
  • Black Hat Asia 2022 (May 10-13, 2022) - Like Lightning From the Cloud: Finding RCEs in an Embedded TLS Library and Toasting a Popular Cloud-connected UPS

Additional Resources

  • Join the conversation with Armis on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube
  • Visit Armis.com to learn more about our agentless device security platform
  • Read the TLStorm blog to get more insights
  • If you're ready to get started, request a demo

About Armis
Armis is the leading unified asset visibility and security platform designed to address the new threat landscape that connected devices create. Fortune 1000 companies trust our real-time and continuous protection to see with full context all managed, unmanaged, and IoT devices, including medical devices (IoMT), operational technology (OT), and industrial control systems (ICS). Armis provides passive and unparalleled cybersecurity asset management, risk management, and automated enforcement. Armis is a privately held company headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Media Contacts:
Dillon Townsel
Sr. Director, Public & Media Relations
dillon@armis.com
512-571-3455

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/519971/Armis_Logo.jpg 

Modal title

Contact PR Newswire

  • +44 (0)20 7454 5110
    from 8 AM - 5:30 PM GMT
  • General Enquiries
  • Media Enquiries
  • Partnerships

Products

  • Content Distribution
  • Multimedia Services
  • Disclosure Services
  • Cision Communications Cloud®

About

  • About PR Newswire
  • About Cision
  • Partnering Opportunities
  • Careers
  • APAC
  • APAC - Simplified Chinese
  • APAC - Traditional Chinese
  • Brazil
  • Canada
  • Czech
  • Denmark
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Israel
  • Japan
  • Korea
  • Mexico
  • Middle East
  • Middle East - Arabic
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Russia
  • Slovakia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • United States
  • Vietnam

My Services

  • All News Releases
  • Customer Portal
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists
  • Data Privacy

Do not sell or share my personal information:

  • Submit via Privacy@cision.com 
  • Call Privacy toll-free: 877-297-8921

Contact PR Newswire

Products

About

My Services
  • All News Releases
  • Customer Portal
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists
+44 (0)20 7454 5110
from 8 AM - 5:30 PM GMT
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Information Security Policy
  • Site Map
  • RSS
  • Cookie Settings
Copyright © 2025 PR Newswire Europe Limited. All Rights Reserved. A Cision company.