VulnerabilityPublished 12 Nov 2025

CVE-2025-11566: Schneider Electric PowerChute™ Serial Shutdown · Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts

Affects Schneider Electric PowerChute™ Serial ShutdownSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.9 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score

6.9Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 38% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Attack Requirements: None
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Vulnerable system confidentiality: Low
Vulnerable system integrity: Low
Vulnerable system availability: Low
Subsequent system confidentiality: None
Subsequent system integrity: None
Subsequent system availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable system is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed below, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed “remotely exploitable” and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: The attacker must take no measurable action to exploit the vulnerability. The attack requires no target-specific circumvention to exploit the vulnerability. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: None: The successful attack does not depend on the deployment and execution conditions of the vulnerable system. The attacker can expect to be able to reach the vulnerability and execute the exploit under all or most instances of the vulnerability.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files of the vulnerable system to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without interaction from any human user, other than the attacker.
Vulnerable system confidentiality: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact to the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the Vulnerable System are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Subsequent System or all confidentiality impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Subsequent System or all integrity impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Subsequent System or all availability impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v4.0 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 12 Nov 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Schneider Electric PowerChute™ Serial Shutdown	Affected <=1.3	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Apply vendor patches or updates as soon as they become available to address this vulnerability.
Implement strict network segmentation to isolate PowerChute™ Serial Shutdown systems from general user networks, limiting local network access to trusted administrators only.
Deploy network-level intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS) to monitor and block brute-force authentication attempts targeting the /REST/shutdownnow endpoint.
Enforce strong authentication policies and consider multi-factor authentication (MFA) for access to PowerChute management interfaces where possible.
Regularly audit logs for repeated failed authentication attempts and unusual access patterns.
Restrict access to the REST API endpoints to known IP addresses or via VPN tunnels to reduce exposure.
Educate network administrators about this vulnerability and encourage prompt incident reporting.
If patching is delayed, consider temporary compensating controls such as disabling the vulnerable endpoint if feasible or deploying web application firewalls (WAF) with rate limiting rules.

Description

CWE-307: Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts vulnerability exists that would allow an attacker on the local network to gain access to the user account by performing an arbitrary number of authentication attempts with different credentials on the /REST/shutdownnow endpoint.

Impact

For European organizations, especially those operating critical infrastructure, data centers, or industrial environments, this vulnerability poses a risk of unauthorized shutdowns leading to operational disruption, potential data loss, and safety hazards. PowerChute™ Serial Shutdown is commonly deployed to manage UPS systems and ensure graceful shutdowns during power events. Exploitation could allow attackers to forcibly shut down systems, causing downtime and impacting business continuity. Confidentiality and integrity impacts are limited but non-negligible since unauthorized access to user accounts could facilitate further malicious actions. The medium CVSS score reflects a moderate threat level; however, the ease of exploitation without authentication or user interaction increases urgency. Organizations in sectors such as energy, manufacturing, healthcare, and finance in Europe could face increased exposure. Additionally, disruption in critical infrastructure could have cascading effects on national security and public safety. The local network attack vector implies that internal network security posture is critical to mitigating risk.

CWE-307Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A07:2025: Authentication Failures (opens in a new tab)
The product does not implement sufficient measures to prevent multiple failed authentication attempts within a short time frame.
Architecture and Design
Common protection mechanisms include: Disconnecting the user after a small number of failed attempts; Implementing a timeout; Locking out a targeted account; Requiring a computational task on the user's part.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authentication (opens in a new tab)
Transport Layer Protection (opens in a new tab)
TLS Cipher String (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V2.2.1 (opens in a new tab)
V2.8.5 (opens in a new tab)
V2.8.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Dictionary-based Password Attack (opens in a new tab)
Password Brute Forcing (opens in a new tab)
Password Spraying (opens in a new tab)
Credential Stuffing (opens in a new tab)
Use of Known Kerberos Credentials (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

download.schneider-electric.com/files?p_Doc_Ref=SEVD-2025-315-01&p_enDocType=Security+and+Safety+Notice&p_File_Name=SEVD-2025-315-01.pdf (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 19 Nov 2025, 14:31 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-307

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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