Inductive Automation Ignition Execution with Unnecessary Privileges

The vulnerability affects Ignition SCADA applications where Python scripting is utilized for automation purposes. The vulnerability arises from the absence of proper security controls that restrict which Python libraries can be imported and executed within the scripting environment. The core issue lies in the Ignition service account having system permissions beyond what an Ignition privileged user requires. When an authenticated administrator uploads a malicious project file containing Python scripts with bind shell capabilities, the application executes these scripts with the same privileges as the Ignition Gateway process, which typically runs with SYSTEM-level permissions on Windows. Alternative code execution patterns could lead to similar results.