CyberDudeBivash Global Intel Report: CVE-2025-32433 Erlang/OTP RCE Exploited in the Wild By CyberDudeBivash — Cybersecurity Authority

Executive Summary

A critical infrastructure-level threat has emerged: CVE-2025-32433, an unauthenticated remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in the Erlang/OTP SSH server, is already being actively exploited in the wild. Attack attempts have surged since May 1, 2025, targeting both IT and OT environments especially in healthcare, education, agriculture, media, and high-tech sectors. With a CVSS score of 10.0, zero attack complexity, and no credentials needed, the risk is existential.

Organizations using Erlang/OTP for remote administration—including telco systems, IoT infrastructure, telecom stacks, and bespoke distributed services—are at immediate risk of full system takeover.

This report delivers hands-on remediation guidance, detection strategies, strategic defense frameworks, along with CyberDudeBivash brand promotions, affiliate tool references, all crafted to be high-CPC and Google-Adsense friendly.

1. Vulnerability Breakdown & Severity

1.1 What’s at Risk:

CVE-2025-32433 emerges from a flaw in the Erlang/OTP SSH daemon’s protocol parsing—pre-authentication messages (protocol codes ≥ 80) are processed prematurely, granting unauthenticated RCE.

Affected versions: OTP versions prior to 27.3.3, 26.2.5.11, 25.3.2.20.
Unit 42 NVD Arctic Wolf

1.2 Severity & Impact:

CVSS 3.1 score of 10.0 (Critical)—network accessible, no user interaction, UNPRIVILEGED — Complete Compromise Possible.
Unit 42 Tenable®Arctic Wolf
Added to CISA’s KEV catalog on June 9, 2025—heightened urgency for federal alignment.
CISA

1.3 Evidence of Active Exploitation:

Palo Alto/Unit 42 telemetry shows exploitation from May 1 to May 9, 2025, with 70% of attempts targeting OT network firewalls.
Unit 42 SecurityWeek Industrial Cyber TXOne Networks
TXOne networks reports multiple campaigns and payloads actively deployed.
TXOne Networks

2. Attack Surface & Exposure Insights

2.1 Widespread IT/OT Exposure

Internet scans found 275 public hosts, 326 exposed Erlang/OTP services, often on ports 22, 830, 2022, 2222—widely used in OT comms stacks.
Unit 42 Industrial Cyber SecurityWeek

2.2 Industry & Geography Breakdown

OT-focused exploitation: Healthcare, agriculture, media/entertainment, high tech severely impacted, while utilities, aerospace, defense showed fewer triggers (potentially detection gaps).
Geographic hotspots: U.S., Japan, Brazil, France. Japan’s exploitation was nearly 100% OT-based; U.S. saw 71% OT-targeted attacks.
Education sector—especially OT—saw a disproportionate share in global exploit counts.
Unit 42 SecurityWeek Industrial Cyber

2.3 Payload Techniques

Reverse shells and other RCE payloads via SSH
OAST techniques: DNS callbacks to “dns.outbound.watchtowr[.]com” using gethostbyname to confirm code execution.
Unit 42
TXOne reported payloads: script loaders, binary droppers (with “hello_cve_2025_32433” marker), multi-architecture botnet loaders.
TXOne Networks

3. Detection Strategies & Indicators of Compromise (IoCs)

3.1 Known IoCs:

DNS callbacks to wildcard domains under dns.outbound.watchtowr[.]com
Suspicious IPs: yaso[.]su, 107.150.0[.]103, 196.251.66[.]32
TXOne Networks

3.2 Firewalls & OT Monitoring:

Surge in Erlang/OTP SSH session anomalies
Unexpected ports (2222, 2022, etc.) connecting without authentication
Spikes in reverse shell activity or binary drops during May timeframe

3.3 AIM & Detection Tools:

Layer security tools like Cortex XDR, TXOne networks, NGFW filters with updated rule IDs.
Unit 42 TXOne Networks SecurityWeek

4. Mitigation & Defense Plan

4.1 Apply Patches Immediately

Upgrade Erlang/OTP to:

27.3.3 or later
26.2.5.11 or later
25.3.2.20 or later
Unit 42 Arctic Wolf

4.2 Temporary Workarounds

Disable SSH server if not required
Restrict access via firewall—limit to trusted IPs
NVD Arctic Wolf

4.3 Strategic Defense Layers

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) to isolate Erlang hosts
EDR/XDR deployment: CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne, Palo Alto Cortex XDR
Continuous vulnerability scanning (Tenable, Qualys, Rapid7)
IoT/OT segmentation and monitoring via dedicated OT SOCs

4.4 Vendor Engagement

Telco and telecom gear: Push Ericsson, Cisco, Broadcom, National Instruments, etc. — share OSS stack audit for Erlang SSH exposure.
Arctic Wolf Support Portal

5. High-CPC Affiliate References

Zero Trust Platforms: Okta, Zscaler ZPA, Akamai Enterprise Application Access
EDR / XDR Tools: CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity, Palo Alto Cortex XDR
Vulnerability Management Solutions: Tenable Nessus, Qualys VMDR, Rapid7 InsightVM
OT/ICS-Specific Security: TXOne Networks, Dragos, Nozomi Networks
Incident Response & Cyber Insurance: Mandiant, CrowdStrike Incident Services, Coalition Cyber Insurance

Affiliate Note: Clicking through helps support production of actionable cyber intel.

6. CyberDudeBivash Strategic View

This is Erlang/OTP’s “Bleed-in-the-wild” moment. A trusted telecom/IoT runtime layer—now weaponized with zero-permission RCE. Anyone running systems with vulnerable OTP builds is an active target, period.

Industries at highest risk: Healthcare, agriculture, education, media, high-tech enterprises—especially in OT environments.

Forgoing patching equals high-risk operational blindness. Full SOC enhancement, OT asset visibility, and deep vendor supply chain scrutiny are non-negotiable.

7. CyberDudeBivash Branding & CTA

Website: Visit CyberDudeBivash.com for enterprise threat intel platforms, incident response toolkits, and consultation.
Blog: Daily deep-dives and advisory alerts at CyberBivash Blogspot — your go-to CVE timeline tracker
Newsletter: Subscribe to ThreatWire by CyberDudeBivash for exclusive APT campaign breakouts and zero-hour intel
Crypto Security Hub: Track vulnerabilities in blockchain environments via CryptoBivash Code Blog

CyberDudeBivash ensures your digital fortress stays impregnable.

8.

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)
Enterprise Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR)
Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Security
Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Patch
OT Security Monitoring
Telecommunication Infrastructure Risk
Cyber Threat Hunting Tools
Vulnerability Scanning Solutions
Cyber Insurance & Incident Response
Distributed Systems Security

9.

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