Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-40746

Critical

Published: 12 August 2025

Published
12 August 2025
Modified
20 August 2025
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score v4 9.4 CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/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 0.0182 83.3th percentile
Risk Priority 20 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-40746 is a critical-severity Improper Input Validation (CWE-20) vulnerability in Siemens Simatic Rtls Locating Manager. Its CVSS base score is 9.4 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 16.7% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).

Deeper analysis

A vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-40746 affects Siemens SIMATIC RTLS Locating Manager in all versions prior to V3.2. The products do not properly validate input for a backup script, which is tracked under CWE-20 and carries a CVSS 4.0 score of 9.4.

An authenticated remote attacker who already possesses high privileges within the application can supply crafted input to the backup script and thereby execute arbitrary code with NT Authority/SYSTEM privileges on the underlying system.

The official Siemens advisory at https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-493787.html addresses the issue and outlines mitigation steps for affected deployments.

The associated EPSS score remains low and unchanged at 0.0182, indicating no material increase in observed exploitation interest since disclosure.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

A vulnerability has been identified in SIMATIC RTLS Locating Manager (All versions < V3.2). Affected products do not properly validate input for a backup script. This could allow an authenticated remote attacker with high privileges in the application to execute…

more

arbitrary code with 'NT Authority/SYSTEM' privileges.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
Why these techniques?

Improper input validation in backup script directly enables authenticated remote attacker to achieve arbitrary code execution and escalate from application high privileges to NT AUTHORITY/SYSTEM.

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-27493Same vendor: Siemens
CVE-2025-27494Same vendor: Siemens
CVE-2025-40942Same vendor: Siemens
CVE-2025-27396Same vendor: Siemens
CVE-2025-21234Shared CWE-20
CVE-2024-53977Same vendor: Siemens
CVE-2026-25655Same vendor: Siemens
CVE-2025-48647Shared CWE-20
CVE-2025-25210Shared CWE-20
CVE-2026-21733Shared CWE-20

Affected Assets

siemens
simatic rtls locating manager
≤ 3.2

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

SI-10 directly requires validation of inputs to the backup script to ensure consistency with expected content, addressing the core CWE-20 improper input validation vulnerability.

prevent

SI-2 mandates identification, reporting, and timely remediation of flaws like this input validation issue, enabling patching to V3.2 as recommended in the advisory.

prevent

AC-6 enforces least privilege to limit the scope of high-privilege accounts that could access and exploit the vulnerable backup script, reducing potential for SYSTEM-level code execution.

References