Rockwell Arena Simulation Vulnerabilities Let Attackers Execute Malicious Code Remotely
Rockwell Automation has disclosed three critical memory corruption vulnerabilities in its Arena® Simulation software that could allow threat actors to execute arbitrary code remotely on affected systems.
The security flaws, identified as CVE-2025-7025, CVE-2025-7032, and CVE-2025-7033, carry a high CVSS 4.0 base score of 8.4 and affect all versions 16.20.09 and prior.
The vulnerabilities were discovered internally during routine testing by security researcher Michael Heinzl and have been addressed in version 16.20.10, released on August 5, 2025.
Key Takeaways
1. Three critical vulnerabilities in Rockwell Arena® Simulation enable remote code execution.
2. Exploitation requires user interaction with malicious files or websites.
3. Update immediately or implement strict file handling controls.
Rockwell Arena Memory Corruption Flaws
The three newly disclosed vulnerabilities represent serious memory abuse issues that can force Arena Simulation to read and write beyond allocated memory boundaries.
CVE-2025-7025 involves an out-of-bounds read vulnerability (CWE-125), while CVE-2025-7032 exploits a stack-based buffer overflow (CWE-121), and CVE-2025-7033 leverages a heap-based buffer overflow (CWE-122).
All three flaws share identical CVSS vectors of CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N, indicating local attack vectors requiring user interaction through malicious files or webpages.
The attack methodology requires social engineering to trick users into opening specially crafted files or visiting compromised websites.
Once successful, threat actors can achieve arbitrary code execution with high impact on the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the targeted system.
The vulnerabilities do not require elevated privileges, making them particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where Arena Simulation is commonly deployed for manufacturing and process optimization.
Each vulnerability carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.8, with the attack vector classified as local (AV:L) with low complexity (AC:L) and no required privileges (PR:N).
The Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications highlight fundamental memory management issues that could lead to information disclosure or complete system compromise.
Security analysts note that while the vulnerabilities are not currently listed in CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerability (KEV) database, the high CVSS scores and potential for code execution warrant immediate attention.
| CVE ID | Title | CVSS 3.1 Score | Severity |
| CVE-2025-7025 | Arena® Simulation Out-of-bounds Read Vulnerability | 7.8 | High |
| CVE-2025-7032 | Arena® Simulation Stack-based Buffer Overflow | 7.8 | High |
| CVE-2025-7033 | Arena® Simulation Heap-based Buffer Overflow | 7.8 | High |
Mitigations
Rockwell Automation strongly recommends immediate deployment of Arena Simulation version 16.20.10 or later to address all three vulnerabilities.
Organizations unable to upgrade immediately should implement comprehensive security best practices, including restricting file access permissions, implementing application whitelisting, and conducting user awareness training about suspicious file handling.
Network segmentation and endpoint detection solutions can provide additional layers of protection against potential exploitation attempts targeting these memory corruption flaws.
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