CVE-2026-25933 is a medium-severity OS command injection vulnerability identified in the arduino-app-lab IDE prior to version 0.4.0. The flaw exists in the Terminal component, specifically in how the application processes metadata fields _info.Serial and _info.Address received from connected Arduino hardware devices. These fields are used to identify the device and establish terminal sessions. Due to insufficient input sanitization and validation, specially crafted strings containing shell metacharacters can be injected by an attacker controlling the connected hardware. When the application processes these fields, the injected payload is executed with the same privileges as the user running arduino-app-lab, potentially leading to full system compromise. Exploitation requires physical access to a previously tampered Arduino board, user interaction to connect the device, and the user running the vulnerable software with elevated privileges. The vulnerability affects confidentiality, integrity, and availability by allowing arbitrary command execution, data theft, or system disruption. Although no known exploits are currently reported in the wild, the risk is significant in environments where physical device security is lax. The issue is resolved in arduino-app-lab version 0.4.0, which enforces proper input validation and sanitization of device metadata fields.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2026-25933 can be substantial in sectors relying on Arduino hardware for prototyping, industrial automation, or educational purposes. Successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized command execution on development or operational systems, resulting in data breaches, intellectual property theft, or disruption of critical processes. Organizations with lax physical security controls over hardware devices are at higher risk. The vulnerability could also be leveraged as a foothold for lateral movement within internal networks if the compromised user has elevated privileges. Given the requirement for physical access and user interaction, remote exploitation is unlikely, but insider threats or supply chain tampering pose realistic attack vectors. The compromise of systems running arduino-app-lab could undermine trust in development environments and delay project timelines due to incident response and remediation efforts.

1. Upgrade all instances of arduino-app-lab to version 0.4.0 or later, where the vulnerability is fixed. 2. Enforce strict physical security controls to prevent unauthorized access to Arduino hardware devices, including tampering or insertion of malicious boards. 3. Limit the privileges of users running arduino-app-lab to the minimum necessary, avoiding running the IDE with administrative or root rights. 4. Implement additional input validation and sanitization layers at the application or OS level to detect and block suspicious device metadata containing shell metacharacters. 5. Educate developers and operational staff about the risks of connecting untrusted hardware and the importance of verifying device integrity. 6. Monitor system logs and terminal sessions for unusual command executions or anomalies related to device connections. 7. Consider network segmentation and endpoint protection to contain potential compromises originating from development workstations.