CISA Warns of High-Risk Credential Exposure Flaws in Rockwell Automation Verve Asset Manager

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Rockwell Automation Verve Asset Manager – Vulnerability Analysis & Technical Breakdown

Product: Rockwell Automation Verve Asset Manager
Vendor: Rockwell Automation
Product Use: A cybersecurity and operational technology (OT) platform that inventories, tracks, and manages industrial assets, devices, and their security posture across industrial networks, supporting visibility into device inventory, automated vulnerability assessments, and lifecycle tracking.

Official Patch Link (for both CVEs): https://www.rockwellautomation.com/en-in/trust-center/security-advisories.html

Vulnerability Comparison Table (High-Detail Technical)

CVE NameCVE IDCVSS ScoreSeverityExploitability DetailsKnown Exploit / Proof of Concept
Plaintext Secrets in Legacy ADI ModuleCVE-2025-14376~7.x-8.x (varies by scoring system)HighInsecure storage of sensitive variables in environment variables; an attacker with local high privileges can read secrets and use them to pivot.No public PoC known
Plaintext Secrets in Legacy Ansible Playbook RunnerCVE-2025-14377~7.x-8.x (varies by scoring system)HighIn automation context, secrets are written to cleartext during playbook execution, enabling credential leakage to local processes or logs.No public PoC known

Detailed Vulnerability Descriptions & Technical Impact

1. CVE-2025-14376 – Legacy ADI Server Secrets Exposed

Technical Detail: The legacy Agentless Device Interface (ADI) server component of Verve Asset Manager stored sensitive information such as API keys, tokens, or service credentials in plain environment variables without encryption or adequate access controls. Environment variables are visible to processes and administrators on the host, meaning an attacker who already has elevated or system-level access can extract these secrets easily from process memory or the host environment.

Risk Insight:

  • Once credentials are exposed, they can be used to authenticate to other systems, automate lateral movements, or enable persistent access.
  • Even though ADI was marked optional or retired in newer versions, many environments still run older releases with this component enabled.
  • This is fundamentally a confidentiality failure that can cascade into integrity and availability risks when credentials are reused across other OT systems.

MITRE Mapping:

  • CWE-922: Insecure Storage of Sensitive Information
  • ATT&CK T1552 – Unsecured Credentials

Exploitability:

  • Precondition: Local or administrative access on the host running the ADI component is required.
  • Ability: Once local access is achieved, a simple read of environment variables or process dumps yields secrets.
  • Impact: Credential compromise leads to potential lateral movement and data access.

2. CVE-2025-14377 – Cleartext Secrets from Legacy Ansible Playbook Runner

Technical Detail: Rockwell’s Verve Asset Manager has a legacy Ansible playbook automation subsystem that, during execution of device automation tasks, stored credentials and configuration secrets in cleartext temporary storage. This means that while playbooks automate device configuration and inventory tasks, any secret-containing artifacts created at runtime could remain visible to filesystem inspection or logging subsystems.

Risk Insight:

  • Automated playbooks are often run across entire OT networks; if temporary artifacts or logs contain secrets, attackers with even basic host access or monitoring capabilities could extract them.
  • Playbook runners often generate logs or temporary config dumps — these increase the attack surface beyond just the in-memory application.

MITRE Mapping:

  • CWE-312: Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information
  • ATT&CK T1552 – Unsecured Credentials

Exploitability:

  • Precondition: Presence of legacy playbook subsystem installed and used.
  • Ability: Credentials or configuration variables are written during automation tasks and not protected.
  • Impact: Once extracted, those credentials could be used across OT systems or reused for further escalation.

How These Could Be Exploited (In Layman + Technical Terms)

Even though neither CVE currently has a public weaponized exploit tool or proof of concept, both vulnerabilities represent a significant risk:

  • Attack Vector (CVE-14376): If an attacker already has some form of elevated access (for example, stolen engineer credentials, an exposed engineering workstation, or a compromised VPN session into the OT environment), they can access environment variables that contain secrets. Once they grab those credentials, they can pivot deeper into the network or authenticate against other services.
  • Attack Vector (CVE-14377): In automation runs, the system itself writes out sensitive keys in plain text. Any process monitoring those logs, temporary files, or automation artifacts could scoop those secrets.

Once an attacker has valid credentials, many industrial systems can be manipulated without further exploitation.

Detection Techniques & Log Sources

Detecting credential exposure or attempted exploitation requires both host-level and network-level monitoring:

Host Logging / Detection

  • Process Audit Logs: Monitor for reads of environment variables by unexpected or suspicious processes.
  • File System Audit: Look for anomalous access to temporary directories, automation execution logs, or playbook execution artifacts that contain credential strings.
  • Security Information and Event Management (SIEM): Index host logs and alert on access patterns where non-standard processes read sensitive OS environment data.

Useful Log Sources:

  • Windows Event Logs (Security & System)
  • Sysmon Process Access Events
  • Linux Auditd Logs
  • Application logs from Verve Asset Manager

General Detection Rules (Example Logic)

  1. Rule: Alert when an account or process reads environment variables of another service unexpectedly.
    • Log Source: Sysmon Process Access
    • Signature: ProcessName != authorized AND TargetProcess = VerveEnv
  2. Rule: Alert on high entropy strings (possible API keys) written to filesystem in automation logs.
    • Log Source: SIEM with regex matching temporary directories.
  3. Rule: Detect playbook execution events without appropriate privilege controls.
    • Log Source: OT automation logs correlated with authentication logs.

Mitigation and Hardening (Beyond Patch)

Recommended Remediation Steps

  1. Update to Verve Asset Manager 1.42 or Later: This is the only official patch that fully removes or corrects both plaintext storage issues.
  2. Disable Unused Legacy Modules: If ADI or legacy playbook modules are installed but not in use, explicitly disable them.
  3. Rotate All Credentials: Treat stored secrets as compromised after any confirmed presence in prior versions.
  4. Network Segmentation / Access Controls: Keep OT management systems isolated from broader networks and enforce strict least-privilege access.
  5. Monitor & Audit: Implement continuous audit logging and automated detection rules as outlined above.

Conclusion

The Verve Asset Manager vulnerabilities represent classic exposure risks through insecure secret handling — not by remote code execution but through credential leakage. In industrial environments, credentials are the keys to the kingdom: once extracted, attackers can pivot laterally across OT systems with minimal friction. Updating to the latest version and hardening automation systems — along with proactive host and network monitoring — dramatically reduces risk.

Official patch download: https://www.rockwellautomation.com/en-in/trust-center/security-advisories.html

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