A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the network configuration script of Phoenix Contact devices. The script improperly handles user input, allowing a low‑privileged local user to inject arbitrary operating system commands. As a result, the attacker can execute commands with root privileges, achieving full system compromise. The flaw aligns with CWE‑78, an OS command injection weakness.

The vulnerability affects Phoenix Contact CHARX SEC‑3000, CHARX SEC‑3050, CHARX SEC‑3100, and CHARX SEC‑3150 models. No specific firmware or software version information is provided, so all current revisions of these devices are potentially impacted.

The vulnerability carries a high severity CVSS score of 8.5, but the EPSS score is less than 1%, indicating a low probability of exploitation in the wild. It is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog. Likely exploitation requires that an attacker gains a local user account with limited privileges and uses the vulnerable network script, which then runs with root privileges. Because the attack is local, the risk is confined to environments where local accounts exist and can be compromised.