Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-9281

HighDDoS

Published: 20 January 2026

Published
20 January 2026
Modified
02 February 2026
KEV Added
—
Patch
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CVSS Score v4 8.7 CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/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 0.0053 40.3th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-9281 is a high-severity Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400) vulnerability in Rockwellautomation Armorstart Lt Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 8.7 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 40.3th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SC-5 (Denial-of-service Protection) and SC-6 (Resource Availability).

Deeper analysis

CVE-2025-9281 is a vulnerability in ArmorStart® LT that can result in a denial-of-service condition. The issue manifests during execution of the Achilles Comprehensive step limit storm tests, causing the device to reboot. It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H) and is classified under CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption).

A remote, unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability over the network with low attack complexity and no user interaction. Exploitation triggers the specified storm tests, leading to a device reboot and high-impact availability disruption.

Mitigation details are provided in the Rockwell Automation security advisory available at https://www.rockwellautomation.com/en-us/trust-center/security-advisories/advisory.SD1768.html.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

A security issue exists within ArmorStart® LT that can result in a denial-of-service condition. During execution of the Achilles Comprehensive step limit storm tests, the device reboots

CWE(s)
CWE-400

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

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 →
T1498 Network Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Network Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of targeted resources to users.
attack.mitre.org →
Why these techniques?

Remote unauthenticated network exploitation of resource exhaustion leading to DoS/reboot directly maps to public-facing app exploitation (T1190) and network DoS via flooding/storms (T1498).

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-9282Same product: Rockwellautomation Armorstart Lt
CVE-2025-9283Same product: Rockwellautomation Armorstart Lt
CVE-2025-9464Same product: Rockwellautomation Armorstart Lt
CVE-2025-9278Same product: Rockwellautomation Armorstart Lt
CVE-2025-9466Same product: Rockwellautomation Armorstart Lt
CVE-2025-9465Same product: Rockwellautomation Armorstart Lt
CVE-2025-9280Same product: Rockwellautomation Armorstart Lt
CVE-2025-9279Same product: Rockwellautomation Armorstart Lt
CVE-2025-7972Same vendor: Rockwellautomation
CVE-2025-9161Same vendor: Rockwellautomation

Affected Assets

rockwellautomation
armorstart lt firmware
≤ 2.002

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SC-5 Denial-of-service Protection good match
prevent

Directly enforces denial-of-service protections to prevent storm test exploitation that triggers device reboot.

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match
prevent

Remediates the specific uncontrolled resource consumption flaw in ArmorStart LT via timely patching.

SC-6 Resource Availability good match
prevent

Protects resource availability against uncontrolled consumption attacks causing high-impact reboots.

References