Critical WebSocket Vulnerabilities in SWITCH EV's Platform Threaten EV Infrastructure Security
Executive Summary
In February 2026, multiple critical vulnerabilities were identified in SWITCH EV's swtchenergy.com platform, affecting all versions. These vulnerabilities include missing authentication for critical functions (CVE-2026-27767), improper restriction of excessive authentication attempts (CVE-2026-25113), insufficient session expiration (CVE-2026-25778), and insufficiently protected credentials (CVE-2026-27773). Exploitation of these flaws could allow attackers to impersonate charging stations, hijack sessions, suppress or misroute legitimate traffic, and manipulate data sent to the backend, potentially leading to large-scale denial of service and unauthorized control over charging infrastructure. (cvedetails.com)
The increasing reliance on electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure underscores the critical need for robust cybersecurity measures. These vulnerabilities highlight the potential risks associated with inadequate authentication and session management in critical infrastructure systems, emphasizing the importance of implementing comprehensive security protocols to safeguard against such threats.
Why This Matters Now
As the adoption of electric vehicles accelerates, ensuring the security of EV charging infrastructure becomes paramount. The identified vulnerabilities in SWITCH EV's platform expose significant risks that could disrupt services and compromise user trust, underscoring the urgency for immediate remediation and the implementation of stringent security measures.
Attack Path Analysis
An attacker exploited publicly accessible charging station identifiers to impersonate legitimate stations, gaining unauthorized access to the SWITCH EV network. By leveraging the lack of authentication on WebSocket endpoints, the attacker issued commands as if they were legitimate chargers. The absence of rate limiting allowed the attacker to perform brute-force attacks, potentially escalating privileges. Utilizing predictable session identifiers, the attacker hijacked active sessions, moving laterally within the network. The attacker established command and control by maintaining persistent access through the compromised WebSocket connections. Finally, the attacker manipulated data sent to the backend, leading to data corruption and potential denial-of-service conditions.
Kill Chain Progression
Initial Compromise
Description
The attacker exploited publicly accessible charging station identifiers to impersonate legitimate stations and gain unauthorized access to the SWITCH EV network.
Related CVEs
CVE-2026-27767
CVSS 9.4WebSocket endpoints lack proper authentication mechanisms, enabling attackers to perform unauthorized station impersonation and manipulate data sent to the backend.
Affected Products:
SWITCH EV swtchenergy.com – all
Exploit Status:
no public exploitCVE-2026-25113
CVSS 7.5The WebSocket API lacks restrictions on the number of authentication requests, allowing potential denial-of-service or brute-force attacks.
Affected Products:
SWITCH EV swtchenergy.com – all
Exploit Status:
no public exploitCVE-2026-25778
CVSS 7.3The WebSocket backend allows multiple endpoints to connect using the same session identifier, leading to session hijacking or denial-of-service conditions.
Affected Products:
SWITCH EV swtchenergy.com – all
Exploit Status:
no public exploitCVE-2026-27773
CVSS 6.5Charging station authentication identifiers are publicly accessible via web-based mapping platforms.
Affected Products:
SWITCH EV swtchenergy.com – all
Exploit Status:
no public exploit
MITRE ATT&CK® Techniques
Techniques identified for SEO/filtering; may be expanded with full STIX/TAXII enrichment later.
Valid Accounts
Brute Force
Use Alternate Authentication Material
Application Layer Protocol
Network Denial of Service
Data Manipulation
Potential Compliance Exposure
Mapping incident impact across multiple compliance frameworks.
PCI DSS 4.0 – Strong Authentication for Users
Control ID: 8.2.1
NYDFS 23 NYCRR 500 – Cybersecurity Policy
Control ID: 500.03
DORA – ICT Risk Management Framework
Control ID: Article 5
CISA ZTMM 2.0 – Identity
Control ID: Pillar 1
NIS2 Directive – Cybersecurity Risk Management Measures
Control ID: Article 21
Sector Implications
Industry-specific impact of the vulnerabilities, including operational, regulatory, and cloud security risks.
Oil/Energy/Solar/Greentech
Critical EV charging infrastructure vulnerabilities enable station impersonation, session hijacking, and denial-of-service attacks against energy distribution networks.
Transportation
WebSocket authentication flaws allow unauthorized control of charging stations, disrupting electric vehicle operations and transportation electrification infrastructure.
Utilities
Missing authentication mechanisms expose utility-managed charging networks to backend data manipulation and large-scale service disruption attacks.
Automotive
EV charging session vulnerabilities threaten automotive ecosystem integrity through predictable identifiers and insufficient session expiration protections.
Sources
- SWITCH EV swtchenergy.comhttps://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-26-057-06Verified
- CVE-2026-27767 Detailhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-27767Verified
- CVE-2026-27773 Detailhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-27773Verified
Frequently Asked Questions
Cloud Native Security Fabric Mitigations and ControlsCNSF
Aviatrix Zero Trust CNSF is pertinent to this incident as it could have limited the attacker's ability to exploit network vulnerabilities, thereby reducing the potential blast radius.
Control: Cloud Native Security Fabric (CNSF)
Mitigation: Implementing Aviatrix CNSF would likely have constrained unauthorized access by enforcing identity-aware policies, thereby reducing the attacker's ability to impersonate legitimate stations.
Control: Zero Trust Segmentation
Mitigation: Aviatrix Zero Trust Segmentation would likely have restricted unauthorized command execution by enforcing least-privilege access controls, thereby limiting the attacker's ability to escalate privileges.
Control: East-West Traffic Security
Mitigation: Aviatrix East-West Traffic Security would likely have limited lateral movement by monitoring and controlling internal traffic, thereby reducing the attacker's ability to traverse the network.
Control: Multicloud Visibility & Control
Mitigation: Aviatrix Multicloud Visibility & Control would likely have detected and constrained unauthorized command and control channels, thereby reducing the attacker's ability to maintain persistent access.
Control: Egress Security & Policy Enforcement
Mitigation: Aviatrix Egress Security & Policy Enforcement would likely have restricted unauthorized data manipulation by controlling outbound traffic, thereby reducing the risk of data corruption and denial-of-service conditions.
While Aviatrix CNSF could have limited the attacker's ability to compromise the charging infrastructure, some residual risk may remain, potentially affecting certain network segments.
Impact at a Glance
Affected Business Functions
- Charging Station Operations
- Customer Billing
- Energy Management
Estimated downtime: 3 days
Estimated loss: $50,000
Potential exposure of customer billing information and operational data.
Recommended Actions
Key Takeaways & Next Steps
- • Implement strong authentication mechanisms for all WebSocket endpoints to prevent unauthorized access.
- • Enforce rate limiting on authentication attempts to mitigate brute-force attacks.
- • Utilize session management controls to prevent session hijacking and ensure session uniqueness.
- • Deploy network segmentation to limit lateral movement within the network.
- • Establish comprehensive monitoring and anomaly detection to identify and respond to unauthorized activities promptly.
