ABB Central Licensing System - Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Description

For the Central Licensing Server component used in ABB products ABB Ability™ System 800xA and related system extensions versions 5.1, 6.0 and 6.1, Compact HMI versions 5.1 and 6.0, Control Builder Safe 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0, Symphony Plus -S+ Operations 3.0 to 3.2 Symphony Plus -S+ Engineering 1.1 to 2.2, Composer Harmony 5.1, 6.0 and 6.1, Melody Composer 5.3, 6.1/6.2 and SPE for Melody 1.0SPx (Composer 6.3), Harmony OPC Server (HAOPC) Standalone 6.0, 6.1 and 7.0, ABB Ability™ System 800xA/ Advant® OCS Control Builder A 1.3 and 1.4, Advant® OCS AC100 OPC Server 5.1, 6.0 and 6.1, Composer CTK 6.1 and 6.2, AdvaBuild 3.7 SP1 and SP2, OPCServer for MOD 300 (non-800xA) 1.4, OPC Data Link 2.1 and 2.2, Knowledge Manager 8.0, 9.0 and 9.1, Manufacturing Operations Management 1812 and 1909, ABB AbilityTM SCADAvantage versions 5.1 to 5.6.5, a weakness in validation of input exists that allows an attacker to alter licenses assigned to the system nodes by sending specially crafted messages to the CLS web service.

Scores

EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)

1.5% · top 25% of all CVEs (7 Nov 2026)

The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 5.3.

Weakness

• CWE-20 Improper Input Validation (opens in a new tab)All about CWE-20 and its CVEs

Affected products

• ABB · Central Licensing System

  • affected 5.1 – < 5*

• ABB · ABB Ability System 800xA

  • affected 5.1
  • affected 6.0
  • affected 6.1

• ABB · Compact HMI

  • affected 5.1
  • affected 6.0

• ABB · Control Builder Safe

  • affected 1.0
  • affected 1.1
  • affected 2.0

• ABB · Symphony Plus S+ Operations

  • affected 3 – ≤ 3.2

• ABB · Symphony Plus S+ Engineering

  • affected 1.1 – ≤ 2.2

• ABB · Composer Harmony

  • affected 5.1
  • affected 6.0
  • affected 6.1

• ABB · Composer Melody

  • affected 5.3
  • affected 6 – ≤ 6.3

• ABB · Harmony OPC Server Standalone

  • affected 6.0
  • affected 6.1
  • affected 7.0

• ABB · Advant OCS Control Builder A

  • affected 1.3
  • affected 1.4

• ABB · Composer CTK

  • affected 6.1
  • affected 6.2

• ABB · AdvaBuild

  • affected 3.7 SP1
  • affected 3.7 SP2

• ABB · OPC Server for Mod 300 (non-800xA)

  • affected 1.4

• ABB · OPC Data Link

  • affected 2.1
  • affected 2.2

• ABB · Knowledge Manager

  • affected 8.0
  • affected 9.0
  • affected 9.1

• ABB · Manufacturing Operations Management

  • affected 1812
  • affected 1909

• ABB · Advant OCS AC 100 OPS Server

  • affected 5.1
  • affected 6.0
  • affected 6.1

• ABB · ABB Ability™ SCADAvantage

  • affected 5.1 – < unspecified
  • affected unspecified – ≤ 5.6.5

References (3)

• https://search.abb.com/library/Download.aspx?DocumentID=2PAA121231&LanguageCode=en&DocumentPartId=&Action=Launch (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
• https://search.abb.com/library/Download.aspx?DocumentID=2PAA121230&LanguageCode=en&DocumentPartId=&Action=Launch (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
• https://search.abb.com/library/Download.aspx?DocumentID=3CCA2020-003309&LanguageCode=en&DocumentPartId=&Action=Launch (opens in a new tab)x_transferred

Sources

The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.

• CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
• CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
• NVD (opens in a new tab)
• FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
• OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
• GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
• CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)

Badge for a README or a ticket

[![CVE-2020-8476](https://trackcve.app/badge/CVE-2020-8476.svg)](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2020-8476)

Record last updated 4 Aug 2024, 10:03 UTC.