CVE-2025-2605: Honeywell MB-Secure Privilege Escalation

CVE-2025-2605 Overview

CVE-2025-2605 is an OS command injection vulnerability [CWE-78] affecting Honeywell MB-Secure and MB-Secure PRO access control and intrusion detection systems. The flaw stems from improper neutralization of special elements passed to operating system commands. Authenticated attackers with low privileges can inject arbitrary shell commands through the network interface, achieving privilege abuse on the underlying device. The vulnerability impacts MB-Secure from V11.04 before V12.53 and MB-Secure PRO from V01.06 before V03.09. Honeywell has published a security notice and recommends upgrading to the latest firmware release.

Critical Impact
Authenticated network attackers can execute arbitrary operating system commands on MB-Secure devices, leading to full compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of physical security infrastructure.

Affected Products

Honeywell MB-Secure firmware from V11.04 before V12.53
Honeywell MB-Secure PRO firmware from V01.06 before V03.09
MB-Secure and MB-Secure PRO hardware appliances running affected firmware versions

Discovery Timeline

2025-05-02 - CVE-2025-2605 published to the National Vulnerability Database
2025-05-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-2605

Vulnerability Analysis

The Honeywell MB-Secure platform is an integrated access control and intrusion detection system deployed in commercial and industrial facilities. The vulnerability resides in a management interface component that builds operating system commands using attacker-controlled input without proper sanitization. An authenticated user with low privileges can inject shell metacharacters into a request parameter, causing the device to execute attacker-supplied commands in the context of the running service.

The weakness maps to [CWE-78], Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command. Because MB-Secure devices control physical access points and alarm logic, successful exploitation can extend beyond data compromise into manipulation of doors, sensors, and alarm states.

With an EPSS probability of 9.4% and a percentile near the top 5% of all CVEs, exploit interest is elevated relative to most vulnerabilities even though no public proof of concept is currently catalogued.

Root Cause

The root cause is the absence of input validation and command argument escaping on a privileged code path. Special characters such as ;, |, &, and backticks pass through to a shell interpreter rather than being treated as literal data. This allows command chaining and substitution within a request that should otherwise be limited to a fixed operation.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires network access to the MB-Secure management interface and a valid low-privilege account. The attacker submits a crafted request containing shell metacharacters in a parameter consumed by the vulnerable command builder. The device then executes the injected commands with the privileges of the service. No user interaction is required to trigger the issue beyond the initial authenticated request.

No verified exploit code is publicly available. Technical detail is described in prose because no sanitized proof of concept has been released. Refer to the Honeywell Security Notices and the Full Disclosure Mailing List post for vendor and researcher commentary.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-2605

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected outbound network connections originating from MB-Secure or MB-Secure PRO appliances
New or modified system files, scheduled tasks, or persistent processes on the device after a configuration change request
Authentication events from low-privilege accounts followed by anomalous command execution patterns in device logs

Detection Strategies

Inspect HTTP request bodies and query parameters destined for MB-Secure management endpoints for shell metacharacters such as ;, |, &&, $(, and backticks
Correlate authenticated session activity from non-administrative accounts with subsequent process or filesystem changes on the appliance
Compare firmware version strings reported by the device against the fixed versions V12.53 and V03.09 to identify exposed assets

Monitoring Recommendations

Forward MB-Secure system and audit logs to a centralized log platform and alert on command execution events tied to web interface sessions
Monitor the network segment hosting MB-Secure devices for unexpected egress traffic, particularly to internet destinations
Track failed and successful logins to the management interface to identify credential abuse that could precede exploitation

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-2605

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade MB-Secure to V12.53 or later and MB-Secure PRO to V03.09 or later as directed by the Honeywell security notice
Restrict network access to the MB-Secure management interface to a dedicated management VLAN or jump host
Rotate credentials for all accounts on affected devices and remove any accounts that are no longer required
Audit existing user accounts and revoke low-privilege access that does not have a documented business need

Patch Information

Honeywell has released fixed firmware versions and recommends updating to the most recent release of the product. Patch details and download instructions are available through the Honeywell Security Notices portal. Honeywell explicitly recommends moving to the latest available version rather than the minimum fixed version.

Workarounds

Place MB-Secure devices behind a firewall that limits management interface access to specific administrator workstations
Disable or remove unused user accounts to reduce the population of credentials that can be leveraged for authenticated exploitation
Require multi-factor authentication on jump hosts and VPN gateways that provide access to the operational technology network

bash

# Example firewall restriction limiting MB-Secure management access to a single admin subnet
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -s 10.10.20.0/24 --dport 443 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -j DROP