Overview
This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the recently identified vulnerability, CVE-2025-40746, in the SIMATIC RTLS Locating Manager. This vulnerability has been found to affect all versions of the software prior to V3.2. The potential impact of this vulnerability is significant, as it could enable an authenticated remote attacker with high privileges to execute arbitrary code with ‘NT Authority/SYSTEM’ privileges. This poses a severe threat to system integrity, potentially leading to system compromise or data leakage.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-40746
Severity: Critical (CVSS: 9.1)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: High
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Unauthorized code execution with ‘NT Authority/SYSTEM’ privileges, potential system compromise, and data leakage.
Affected Products
Escape the Surveillance Era
Most apps won’t tell you the truth.
They’re part of the problem.
Phone numbers. Emails. Profiles. Logs.
It’s all fuel for surveillance.
Ameeba Chat gives you a way out.
- • No phone number
- • No email
- • No personal info
- • Anonymous aliases
- • End-to-end encrypted
Chat without a trace.
Product | Affected Versions
SIMATIC RTLS Locating Manager | All versions < V3.2 How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability arises from the software’s failure to properly validate input for a backup script. An attacker with high privileges and network access to the application could exploit this by sending a crafted request that includes arbitrary code. Because the application fails to adequately sanitize or check this input, the code could be executed with ‘NT Authority/SYSTEM’ privileges, potentially compromising the entire system.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of how this vulnerability might be exploited. In this example, an HTTP request is made to the backup script endpoint with a malicious payload:
POST /backupScript HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{
"backup_parameters": "arbitrary_code_here"
}In this example, `arbitrary_code_here` represents the arbitrary code that the attacker wishes to execute. Because the application does not properly validate or sanitize the input, this code could be executed with ‘NT Authority/SYSTEM’ privileges.
Mitigation Guidance
To mitigate this vulnerability, it is recommended that users apply the vendor’s patch. If this is not immediately possible, a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can be used as a temporary measure. However, these should not be seen as a long-term solution, as they may not fully protect against the vulnerability. The most effective solution is to update the software to version V3.2 or later, which has been patched to correct this vulnerability.