CVE-2025-41768VulnerabilityPublished 20 Jan 2026Updated 12 Feb 2026

CVE-2025-41768: Beckhoff Automation TwinCAT.HMI.Server · Cross-site Scripting

Affects Beckhoff Automation TwinCAT.HMI.ServerSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium : upgrade to 14.4.267 when convenient.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.5Medium

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

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 15% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 14.4.267

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: High
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: Low
Integrity: Low
Availability: None

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

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, 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: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: High: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide significant (e.g., administrative) control over the vulnerable component that could affect component-wide settings and files.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
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 impacted component.
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 on the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 20 Jan 2026
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 2026-10-25.

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 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

Upgrade TwinCAT.HMI.Server and TF2000-HMI-Server and tf2000-hmi-server to 14.4.267.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Beckhoff AutomationTwinCAT.HMI.Server	Affected <14.4.267	Fixed in 14.4.267
Beckhoff AutomationTF2000-HMI-Server	Affected <14.4.267	Fixed in 14.4.267
Beckhoff Automationtf2000-hmi-server	Affected <14.4.267	Fixed in 14.4.267

AI-suggested

1. Restrict network access to the TwinCAT.HMI.Server interface using firewalls and network segmentation to limit exposure to trusted administrators only. 2. Enforce strict access controls and multi-factor authentication for high-privileged accounts to reduce the risk of credential compromise. 3. Implement input validation and sanitization on the custom CSS field at the application level, if possible, to prevent injection of malicious content. 4. Monitor web server logs and application behavior for unusual CSS content or injection patterns indicative of exploitation attempts. 5. Regularly audit and update user privileges to ensure only necessary users have high-level access. 6. Engage with Beckhoff Automation for timely security updates or patches and apply them promptly once available. 7. Consider deploying web application firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious CSS or script injection attempts. 8. Conduct security awareness training for administrators managing the HMI server to recognize and report suspicious activities. 9. Use network intrusion detection systems (NIDS) to identify anomalous traffic targeting the HMI server. 10. Develop incident response plans specific to industrial control system web interface compromises.

Description

An high privileged remote attacker can inject arbitrary content into the custom CSS field on the affected devices due to improper neutralization of input during web page generation ('Cross-site Scripting').

Impact

For European organizations, particularly those in industrial automation, manufacturing, and critical infrastructure sectors using Beckhoff Automation's TwinCAT.HMI.Server, this vulnerability poses a risk to the confidentiality and integrity of their HMI web interfaces. An attacker with high privileges could inject malicious CSS or scripts, potentially leading to unauthorized data disclosure or manipulation of the HMI display, which could disrupt operational decision-making or leak sensitive operational data. Although availability is not directly impacted, the integrity compromise could indirectly affect operational reliability. Given the network attack vector, attackers could exploit this remotely if they gain high-level access, emphasizing the importance of securing administrative access. The lack of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the absence of patches means organizations must proactively mitigate exposure. European industrial sectors are often targeted by advanced persistent threats (APTs), increasing the relevance of this vulnerability in the regional threat landscape.

CWE-79Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #1OWASP Top 10 A05:2025: Injection (opens in a new tab)
The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controllable input before it is placed in output that is used as a web page that is served to other users.
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.
Implementation · Architecture and Design
Understand the context in which your data will be used and the encoding that will be expected. This is especially important when transmitting data between different components, or when generating outputs that can contain multiple encodings at the same time, such as web pages or multi-part mail messages.
Architecture and Design · Implementation · Attack Surface Reduction
Understand all the potential areas where untrusted inputs can enter your software: parameters or arguments, cookies, anything read from the network, environment variables, reverse DNS lookups, query results, request headers, URL components, e-mail, files, filenames, databases, and any external systems that provide…
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Cross Site Scripting Prevention (opens in a new tab)
DOM based XSS Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Injection Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
Deserialization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V5.3.3 (opens in a new tab)
V1.5.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
XSS Using MIME Type Mismatch (opens in a new tab)
DOM-Based XSS (opens in a new tab)
Reflected XSS (opens in a new tab)
Stored XSS (opens in a new tab)
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

certvde.com/de/advisories/VDE-2025-106 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 13 Feb 2026, 06:51 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-79

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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