CVE-2025-11696 in Studio 5000 Simulation Interface
Summary
by MITRE • 11/11/2025
A local server-side request forgery (SSRF) security issue exists within Studio 5000® Simulation Interface™ via the API. This vulnerability allows any Windows user on the system to trigger outbound SMB requests, enabling the capture of NTLM hashes.
If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/12/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-11696 represents a critical local server-side request forgery flaw within Studio 5000® Simulation Interface™ software. This security weakness specifically manifests through the application programming interface component of the simulation interface platform, creating an avenue for unauthorized network communication. The vulnerability resides in the software's handling of external resource requests, where proper input validation and destination restriction mechanisms are insufficiently implemented. The affected system operates on Windows environments where any authenticated user possesses the capability to exploit this weakness, fundamentally undermining the security posture of installations running this simulation interface software.
The technical implementation of this SSRF vulnerability enables malicious actors to manipulate the application's network request behavior by crafting specific API calls that trigger outbound communication to remote servers. In this particular case, the vulnerability specifically facilitates the initiation of SMB (Server Message Block) protocol requests from the compromised system. This particular protocol choice is significant as SMB operates at the application layer and provides file sharing capabilities across networks, making it a prime target for credential harvesting attacks. The vulnerability's design allows an attacker to specify arbitrary network destinations within the SMB protocol context, bypassing normal network restrictions that would typically prevent such outbound communications.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple network reconnaissance, as it directly enables credential theft through NTLM hash capture mechanisms. When the vulnerable application initiates SMB requests, the authentication process automatically includes NTLM authentication challenges which can be intercepted and processed by attackers using specialized tools such as Responder or SMB relay attacks. This capability allows an attacker to capture authentication credentials without requiring additional exploitation techniques, significantly reducing the attack surface and complexity required for credential compromise. The vulnerability's local nature means that any user with system access can potentially execute this attack, making it particularly dangerous in environments where user access control is not strictly enforced.
Security professionals should consider this vulnerability in the context of the CWE (Common Weakness Enumeration) catalog, specifically mapping it to CWE-918 which describes server-side request forgery vulnerabilities. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this issue under T1110 (Brute Force) and potentially T1567 (Server-Side Request Forgery) depending on the specific implementation details. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including network segmentation to restrict outbound SMB traffic, implementing proper API input validation, and deploying network monitoring solutions capable of detecting anomalous SMB outbound requests. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of principle of least privilege implementation, as restricting user access to the simulation interface application would significantly reduce the attack surface. Additionally, regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar weaknesses in other applications within the network infrastructure that may present similar patterns of insecure external resource handling.