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CVE-2025-5191VulnerabilityPublished 08/25/2025

CVE-2025-5191: Moxa Utility for DRP-A100 Series · Unquoted Search Path or Element

Affects Moxa Utility for DRP-A100 SeriesSource CVE Database V5

0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.3 High.

Data as of 10/25/2026, 16:58:54 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score
7.3High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 4% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 25 Aug 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 2026-10-25.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
Moxa Utility for DRP-A100 SeriesAffected
  • =1.0
Fixed in–

AI-suggested

1. Immediate mitigation should focus on restricting local access to the affected devices, ensuring that only trusted administrators have physical or network-level access. 2. Implement strict application whitelisting and endpoint protection to detect and block unauthorized executables in directories that are part of the system PATH. 3. Review and harden the service startup configurations by manually verifying and correcting the executable paths to be properly quoted, preventing the unquoted search path issue. 4. Employ monitoring and alerting for unusual service restarts or execution of unknown binaries with SYSTEM privileges on these devices. 5. Network segmentation should be enforced to isolate industrial control devices from general IT networks, reducing the risk of lateral movement. 6. Engage with Moxa for official patches or updates and apply them promptly once available. 7. Conduct regular security audits and vulnerability assessments on industrial devices to identify similar configuration weaknesses. 8. Educate operational technology (OT) personnel about the risks of local privilege escalation and the importance of secure configuration management.

Description

An Unquoted Search Path vulnerability has been identified in the utility for Moxa’s industrial computers (Windows). Due to the unquoted path configuration in the SerialInterfaceService.exe utility, a local attacker with limited privileges could place a malicious executable in a higher-priority directory within the search path. When the Serial Interface service starts, the malicious executable could be run with SYSTEM privileges. Successful exploitation could allow privilege escalation or enable an attacker to maintain persistence on the affected system. While successful exploitation can severely impact the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected device itself, there is no loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability within any subsequent systems.

Impact

For European organizations, especially those operating critical infrastructure or industrial environments, this vulnerability poses a significant risk. The Moxa DRP-A100 Series is used in industrial control systems (ICS) and automation, which are often integral to manufacturing, energy, transportation, and utilities sectors. Successful exploitation could allow attackers to gain SYSTEM-level control over these devices, enabling them to disrupt operations, alter device configurations, or maintain long-term persistence. This could lead to operational downtime, safety hazards, and potential regulatory non-compliance under frameworks such as NIS2 or GDPR if personal data or operational data is affected indirectly. Although the vulnerability does not propagate beyond the device itself, the compromised device could serve as a foothold for lateral movement within a network, increasing the risk of broader industrial espionage or sabotage. The local attack vector means that attackers would need some level of access to the device or network segment, which could be achieved via insider threats or through other compromised systems.

Weaknesses

  • CWE-428Unquoted Search Path or Element (opens in a new tab)

    Base weakness

    The product uses a search path that contains an unquoted element, in which the element contains whitespace or other separators. This can cause the product to access resources in a parent path.

References

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