CVE-2025-14377 is a vulnerability classified under CWE-312, indicating cleartext storage of sensitive information, discovered in Rockwell Automation's Verve Asset Manager product. Specifically, the issue resides in the legacy Ansible playbook component, which improperly stores secrets in plaintext during the execution of playbooks. This component has been deprecated and made optional starting with version 1.36 (released in 2024), but remains present and enabled by default in earlier versions from 1.33 through 1.41.3. The vulnerability allows an attacker with privileged access to the system to retrieve sensitive secrets stored in cleartext, potentially leading to credential compromise, unauthorized access, and further exploitation within the environment. The CVSS 4.0 vector (AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:L/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H) reflects that exploitation is possible remotely over the network with low attack complexity, requires privileged authentication but no user interaction, and results in high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts. Although no active exploits have been reported, the presence of plaintext secrets significantly increases the risk of lateral movement and privilege escalation if an attacker gains initial access. The vulnerability affects multiple versions, including those still in use, emphasizing the need for remediation. Rockwell Automation has not provided direct patches but has retired the vulnerable component, suggesting that upgrading and disabling the legacy playbook functionality is the primary mitigation path.

For European organizations, particularly those in industrial automation, manufacturing, and critical infrastructure sectors, this vulnerability poses a significant risk. Verve Asset Manager is used to manage and monitor industrial assets, and exposure of plaintext secrets can lead to unauthorized access to control systems, manipulation of asset configurations, and disruption of operational technology environments. The compromise of credentials could facilitate lateral movement within networks, enabling attackers to escalate privileges and potentially cause operational downtime or safety incidents. Given the high CVSS score and the critical nature of affected systems, organizations could face severe confidentiality breaches, integrity violations of asset data, and availability issues impacting production lines or infrastructure services. The lack of known exploits currently provides a window for proactive mitigation, but the ease of exploitation and high impact necessitate urgent attention. Failure to address this vulnerability could also lead to regulatory and compliance issues under European data protection and cybersecurity frameworks.

1. Immediately identify and inventory all instances of Verve Asset Manager in use, noting versions and whether the legacy Ansible playbook component is enabled. 2. Disable or remove the legacy Ansible playbook component wherever possible, especially in versions prior to 1.36 where it is enabled by default. 3. Upgrade Verve Asset Manager to the latest available version beyond 1.41.3 where the vulnerable component is fully retired and removed. 4. Conduct a thorough audit of all stored secrets and credentials within the Verve Asset Manager environment, rotating any that may have been exposed. 5. Implement strict access controls and monitoring around privileged accounts that can access the playbook component to reduce risk of exploitation. 6. Employ network segmentation to isolate management systems from broader enterprise networks to limit attacker lateral movement. 7. Enhance logging and alerting to detect unusual access patterns or attempts to retrieve stored secrets. 8. Engage with Rockwell Automation support for any additional guidance or patches as they become available. 9. Train operational technology and security teams on the risks associated with cleartext secret storage and best practices for secret management in industrial environments.