Skip to main content
Live Webinar with SANS (June 25)— Agentic CTI Automation for Fun & ProfitRegister Free
Mallory
High

Privilege Escalation via Embedded OLE Objects in AVEVA Process Optimization

IdentifiersCVE-2025-65117CWE-676· Use of Potentially Dangerous…

CVE-2025-65117 is a use of potentially dangerous function vulnerability in AVEVA Process Optimization affecting versions 2024.1 and earlier. The issue allows an authenticated Process Optimization Designer User to embed OLE objects into graphics. If a victim user subsequently interacts with the crafted graphical elements, the attacker can escalate privileges to the identity of that victim user. The available advisory information characterizes the flaw as arising from unsafe handling of embedded OLE content within graphics, enabling attacker-controlled content to be introduced into project graphics and later executed or invoked in the victim user’s security context.

Share:
For your environment

Are you exposed to this one?

Mallory correlates every CVE against your assets, your vendors, and active adversary campaigns. Know which vulnerabilities matter for you, not just which ones are loud.

ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation can result in privilege escalation and user impersonation. An attacker with Process Optimization Designer-level access can craft graphics containing embedded OLE objects so that when another user interacts with those graphics, actions occur in the victim user’s context. This can expose the victim user’s accessible data and permit unauthorized actions with that user’s privileges. The advisory describes the outcome specifically as escalation to the identity of the victim user; availability impact is not specifically indicated.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate upgrade is not possible, limit who can create or modify Process Optimization graphics and project content, especially Designer-level users. Maintain a trusted chain-of-custody for Process Optimization project files during creation, modification, distribution, backup, and use. Apply strict ACLs to installation and data folders to restrict write access to trusted users only. Operationally, avoid opening or interacting with graphics from untrusted or insufficiently controlled sources until they have been validated.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

AVEVA’s recommended remediation for the vulnerabilities affecting AVEVA Process Optimization, including CVE-2025-65117, is to upgrade to AVEVA Process Optimization v2025 or later. Because this issue involves maliciously modified graphics and embedded content, organizations should also review existing project graphics and associated files for untrusted or unauthorized OLE embeddings as part of remediation where feasible.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType
AvevaProcess Optimizationapplication

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.
Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity2

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.