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VulnerabilityPublished

CVE-2025-41697: Phoenix Contact FL SWITCH 2005 · Missing Protection Mechanism for Alternate Hardware Interface

Affects Phoenix Contact FL SWITCH 2005Source CVE Database V5

0

Mentioned vulnerabilities

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.8 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 10:12 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
6.8Medium
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 14% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 9 Dec 2025

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
Phoenix Contact FL SWITCH 2005Affected
  • =0.0.0
Fixed in–

AI-suggested

  1. Conduct an immediate inventory of all Phoenix Contact FL SWITCH 2005 devices within the network to identify affected hardware.
  2. Restrict physical access to network equipment to prevent unauthorized hardware interface exploitation, including securing server rooms and network closets.
  3. Implement network segmentation and strict access controls to limit network proximity to critical switches, reducing the attack surface.
  4. Monitor network traffic for unusual activity that could indicate exploitation attempts, including anomalous root access or configuration changes.
  5. Disable or physically block access to undocumented UART ports where feasible, such as by applying hardware tamper-evident seals or removing connectors.
  6. Coordinate with Phoenix Contact for firmware updates or patches addressing this vulnerability and apply them promptly once available.
  7. Use multi-factor authentication and strong credential management to mitigate risks from credential compromise related to CVE-2025-41692.
  8. Incorporate this vulnerability into incident response and threat hunting exercises to improve detection and response capabilities.

Description

An attacker can use an undocumented UART port on the PCB as a side-channel to get root access e.g.with the credentials obtained from CVE-2025-41692.

References

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