CVE-2025-54860 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting the Cognex In-Sight 2000 series, specifically version 5.x of the In-Sight Explorer software and the In-Sight Camera Firmware. These devices expose a telnet-based management service on port 23, which is used for critical device operations such as firmware upgrades and device reboots. Although authentication is required to access this service, the vulnerability arises from improper handling of login failures. An attacker can exploit this flaw to launch a denial-of-service (DoS) attack that renders the telnet service unreachable. This effectively locks out legitimate administrators from managing the device remotely via telnet, potentially disrupting operational continuity. The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-307, which relates to improper restriction of excessive authentication attempts. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 7.7, indicating a high severity level. The vector indicates that the attack requires local access (AV:L), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges (PR:N), no user interaction (UI:N), unchanged scope (S:U), no confidentiality impact (C:N), but high impact on integrity (I:H) and availability (A:H). No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no patches have been linked yet. The vulnerability's root cause is the failure to properly limit or handle repeated failed login attempts, which leads to the telnet service becoming unresponsive or unreachable, causing a denial of service on the management interface.

For European organizations using Cognex In-Sight 2000 series devices, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to operational reliability and device management. These devices are commonly used in industrial automation, manufacturing quality control, and machine vision applications. A denial-of-service condition on the telnet management interface could prevent timely firmware upgrades, device reboots, or other critical maintenance tasks, potentially leading to prolonged downtime or degraded production quality. While the vulnerability does not directly expose confidential data or allow unauthorized control, the loss of management access can indirectly impact system integrity and availability, which are critical in industrial environments. European companies in sectors such as automotive manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, electronics, and food processing that rely on Cognex vision systems could face operational disruptions. Additionally, the inability to manage devices remotely may increase the risk of delayed response to other security incidents or device malfunctions. Given the local access requirement, the threat is more relevant to insiders or attackers who have gained some level of network access within the industrial control network or production environment.

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should implement the following specific measures: 1) Restrict network access to the telnet management port (port 23) using network segmentation and firewall rules to limit exposure only to trusted management stations and administrators. 2) Disable telnet access where possible and replace it with more secure management protocols such as SSH or vendor-supported secure management interfaces. 3) Implement strict monitoring and alerting on failed login attempts to detect potential brute-force or denial-of-service attempts early. 4) Apply compensating controls such as rate limiting or account lockout policies at the network or device level if supported. 5) Maintain physical security controls to prevent unauthorized local access to devices. 6) Engage with Cognex support to obtain patches or firmware updates addressing this vulnerability as soon as they become available. 7) Develop and test incident response procedures specifically for loss of management access to ensure rapid recovery. 8) Consider deploying network intrusion detection systems (NIDS) tuned to detect anomalous telnet traffic patterns targeting these devices. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on network-level controls, alternative management protocols, and operational preparedness tailored to the specific vulnerability characteristics.