CVE-2025-9188 is a high-severity vulnerability identified in Digilent's DASYLab software, which is a data acquisition and control application widely used for laboratory and industrial automation tasks. The vulnerability stems from CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data. Specifically, DASYLab improperly handles the deserialization process of DSB files, which are project files used by the software. An attacker can craft a malicious DSB file containing specially constructed serialized data that, when opened by a user in DASYLab, triggers arbitrary code execution. This means the attacker can execute any code of their choosing with the privileges of the user running the software. The CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.8 reflects a high severity, with the vector indicating that the attack requires local access (AV:L), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), but does require user interaction (UI:R). The impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability is high, as arbitrary code execution can lead to full system compromise, data theft, or disruption of operations. All versions of DASYLab are affected, and no patches are currently available, increasing the urgency for mitigation. There are no known exploits in the wild yet, but the vulnerability is publicly disclosed and could be targeted by attackers soon. Given the nature of DASYLab’s use in industrial and laboratory environments, exploitation could have significant operational consequences.

For European organizations, especially those in industrial automation, research laboratories, and manufacturing sectors that rely on DASYLab for data acquisition and control, this vulnerability poses a significant risk. Successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized control over critical systems, data exfiltration, or sabotage of experiments and production lines. This could result in operational downtime, loss of sensitive intellectual property, and safety hazards if control systems are manipulated. The requirement for user interaction (opening a malicious DSB file) means that social engineering or phishing campaigns could be used to deliver the payload, increasing the attack surface. Additionally, since DASYLab is used in specialized environments, the impact on availability and integrity could disrupt essential services and research activities, potentially causing cascading effects in supply chains or scientific outputs.

Given that no official patches are currently available, European organizations should implement the following specific mitigations: 1) Enforce strict file handling policies to only allow opening DSB files from trusted sources. 2) Implement application whitelisting and sandboxing for DASYLab to limit the impact of potential code execution. 3) Educate users on the risks of opening unsolicited or unexpected DSB files, emphasizing phishing awareness. 4) Use endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools to monitor for suspicious activity related to DASYLab processes. 5) Isolate systems running DASYLab from critical network segments to reduce lateral movement risk. 6) Regularly back up critical data and configuration files to enable recovery in case of compromise. 7) Monitor vendor communications for patches or updates and plan for rapid deployment once available. 8) Consider alternative software solutions or temporary suspension of DASYLab use in high-risk environments until the vulnerability is remediated.