Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-2286

Memory Safety in Rockwellautomation Arena ≤ 16.20.09

Memory Safety
Published
08 April 2025
Modified
14 July 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v4 8.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0029 21th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2025-2286 is a high-severity Use of Uninitialized Variable (CWE-457) vulnerability in Rockwellautomation Arena. Its CVSS base score is 8.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 21th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A local code execution vulnerability exists in the Rockwell Automation Arena® due to an uninitialized pointer. The flaw is result of improper validation of user-supplied data. If exploited a threat actor can disclose information and execute arbitrary code on the…

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system. To exploit the vulnerability a legitimate user must open a malicious DOE file.

CWE(s)
CWE-457CWE-824

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-2287Same product: Rockwellautomation Arena
CVE-2025-2285Same product: Rockwellautomation Arena
CVE-2023-27858Same product: Rockwellautomation Arena
CVE-2024-21919Same product: Rockwellautomation Arena
CVE-2023-29462Same product: Rockwellautomation Arena
CVE-2026-8313Same product: Rockwellautomation Arena
CVE-2024-11157Same product: Rockwellautomation Arena
CVE-2025-2829Same product: Rockwellautomation Arena
CVE-2026-8085Same product: Rockwellautomation Arena
CVE-2025-3289Same product: Rockwellautomation Arena

Affected Assets

rockwellautomation
arena
≤ 16.20.09

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and static analysis directly find uses of uninitialized variables before deployment.

SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools partial match

Documented development standards and tools can enforce initialization requirements in code.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Engineering principles can mandate explicit variable initialization to avoid uninitialized use.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly catch uninitialized-variable defects via static analysis and code review while the control encompasses many additional development controls.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing can detect uninitialized-variable bugs, but the control is broader.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates practices that reduce uninitialized-variable defects.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify initialization rules, but the control itself does not directly address the weakness.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
degrades

Secure architecture principles discourage unsafe pointer handling.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding explicitly requires variable initialization and static-analysis checks.

References