Evidence used
- No CISA KEV confirmation is currently recorded.
- Exploitation requires an existing local or physical foothold with privileges.
- EPSS is 0.14% for the current model date.
BlackTreeCVE IntelligenceFull vulnerability report · 2025
CVE-2025-61977High confidence
AutomationDirect Productivity Suite Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password
AutomationDirect · Productivity Suite
7.3HighCVSS 4.0
Within 7 days
Patch availableHigh technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.
R
Open reassessment dashboard →Operational reassessment
Published severity in operational context
Published severityHigh→Operational priority:Medium, lowered one band.downgradedsince 24 Oct 2025
Compensating controls
- Validate the affected product branch and deploy the verified fixed release.
- Restrict local access and enforce least privilege on affected hosts.
- Monitor vendor guidance and exploitation sources for a material change.
Verification
- Confirm that the asset runs AutomationDirect Productivity Suite and falls inside the recorded affected range.
- Verify the installed build against the product-specific fixed version after deployment.
- Validate exposure, authentication requirements and compensating controls in the actual environment.
- Reopen this reassessment when CVSS, KEV, EPSS, exploit evidence or remediation changes.
High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.
Patch available01
What, why and how
A weak password recovery mechanism for forgotten password vulnerability was discovered in Productivity Suite software version v4.4.1.19. The vulnerability allows an attacker to decrypt an encrypted project by answering just one recovery question.
What
A weak password recovery mechanism for forgotten password vulnerability was discovered in Productivity Suite software version v4.4.1.19. The vulnerability allows an attacker to decrypt an encrypted project by answering just one recovery question.
Why
The product contains a mechanism for users to recover or change their passwords without knowing the original password, but the mechanism is weak.
How
An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor.
What
A weak password recovery mechanism for forgotten password vulnerability was discovered in Productivity Suite software version v4.4.1.19. The vulnerability allows an attacker to decrypt an encrypted project by answering just one recovery question.
Why
The product contains a mechanism for users to recover or change their passwords without knowing the original password, but the mechanism is weak.
How
An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor.
02
Exploit reality and attack path
CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.
Observed exploitation No confirmed evidence
?
Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.No CISA KEV match was present at the last successful refresh. This means no confirmation from that source, not proof of no exploitation.
Public PoC / exploit material None recorded
?
Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.No exploit-tagged reference or CISA SSVC proof-of-concept state is currently recorded. Research may still exist outside the structured feeds.
- Likely attack path
- local access → Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password → cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor
- Attack surface
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low: a basic authenticated account is required
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High: exploitation depends on specific conditions
- Security boundary
- Not a CVSS 4.0 base metric
- Weakness
?
CWE means Common Weakness Enumeration: a standard category for the underlying weakness. - CWE-640 ↗
CWE-640: Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password. The product contains a mechanism for users to recover or change their passwords without knowing the original password, but the mechanism is weak.
- CVSS vector
?
CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity. CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:NCommon Vulnerability Scoring System 4.0: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.
AVLocalAttack vector: The attacker needs local access to the vulnerable system.ACHighAttack complexity: Successful exploitation depends on specific conditions outside the attacker's direct control.ATNoneAttack requirements: No additional deployment or execution condition is required.PRLowPrivileges required: The attacker needs basic user-level privileges.UINoneUser interaction: No action by another user is required.VCHighVulnerable-system confidentiality: A successful attack can cause a major loss.VIHighVulnerable-system integrity: A successful attack can cause a major loss.VAHighVulnerable-system availability: A successful attack can cause a major loss.SCNoneSubsequent-system confidentiality: No direct loss is represented by this metric.SINoneSubsequent-system integrity: No direct loss is represented by this metric.SANoneSubsequent-system availability: No direct loss is represented by this metric.- Post-exploitation / living off the land
- The issue can support a local privilege or sandbox boundary transition; normal system utilities may then be available in the gained context.
03
Patch and workaround
Operational remediation based on structured source evidence.
- Status
?
Patch availability is based on structured fixed-version fields and authoritative update references. If no fix is verified, check the vendor advisory before making a change. - Patch available
- Affected
- Productivity Suite: ≤ SW V4.2.1.9
- Productivity 3000 P3-622 CPU: ≤ SW V4.2.1.9
- Productivity 3000 P3-550E CPU: ≤ SW V4.2.1.9
- Productivity 3000 P3-530 CPU: ≤ SW v4.4.1.19
- Productivity 2000 P2-622 CPU: ≤ SW v4.4.1.19
- Productivity 2000 P2-550 CPU: ≤ SW v4.4.1.19
- Productivity 1000 P1-550 CPU: ≤ SW v4.4.1.19
- Productivity 1000 P1-540 CPU: < SW v4.4.1.19
- Fixed
- AutomationDirect recommends that users do the following:
- * Update the Productivity Suite programming software to version 4.5.0.x or higher.
- * Update the firmware of Productivity PLCs to the latest version. https://www.automationdirect.com/support/software-downloads
- * Although automation networks and systems come equipped with built-in password protection mechanisms, this represents a fraction of the security measures needed to safeguard these systems.
- * It is imperative that automation control system networks integrate data protection and security measures that match, if not exceed, the robustness of conventional business computer systems.
- * AutomationDirect advises users of PLCs, HMI products, and SCADA systems to conduct a thorough network security analysis to ascertain the appropriate level of security necessary for their specific application.
- Action
- Review the linked authoritative reference and apply the recorded fixed release appropriate to the affected product branch.
- Workaround
- No verified workaround is recorded. Limit untrusted access and use least privilege until authoritative guidance is available.
04
Evidence and provenance
Published 23 Oct 2025 · Last source change 24 Oct 2025, 14:34 UTC · CWE-640 · Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password
CVE recordCVE.org · 5.1
CVSS sourceCNA
EPSS source FIRST · tracked since 2026-08-14
?
The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2025-35742
Product sourceCNA
Remediation sourceCVE/CNA references
CWE sourceCNA
NVD statusNVD not scheduled
Core structured fields are present and their contributing authorities are shown above.
Material change intelligence
View recent updates ↗What changed after publication
No material field changes have been recorded since change tracking began. Routine source refreshes and cosmetic edits are intentionally excluded.
Technical terms and abbreviations used in this report
- CVE
- Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: the public identifier for one disclosed vulnerability.
- CVSS
- Common Vulnerability Scoring System: a technical severity framework; it is not patching priority by itself.
- EPSS
- Exploit Prediction Scoring System: FIRST's estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days; it is a forecast, not confirmation.
- CWE
- Common Weakness Enumeration: the standard category describing the underlying software or hardware weakness.
- CNA
- CVE Numbering Authority: an organisation authorised to assign and publish CVE records.
- CISA ADP
- Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Authorized Data Publisher: structured enrichment added to a CVE record.
- NVD
- National Vulnerability Database: NIST's enrichment service for CVE records.
- CERT / CSIRT
- A computer security incident response team that publishes warnings or coordinates incident response.
- PoC
- Proof of concept: public material that demonstrates or helps reproduce exploitation.
- CSAF
- Common Security Advisory Framework: a machine-readable format for security advisories.
- LoTL
- Living off the land: abuse of legitimate tools or system functions during an attack.