// Phoenix Contact PLCnext Engineer / case study

Signature verification and extraction boundaries in engineering packages

Three published vulnerabilities affected GSDX signature verification, signed plug-in deployment, and extraction paths. CERT@VDE credits Ievgen Bondarenko; Phoenix Contact fixed the issues in PLCnext Engineer 2026.6.

Published | CERT@VDE VDE-2026-121 | 3 CVEsDisclosure-safe summary
Trust-boundary path
01Engineering package
02Signature and extraction checks
03Project data and plug-in code

Project and affected component

GSDX device-description import and PFI plug-in deployment before version 2026.6.

Security boundary

Package signatures and archive paths must constrain the content accepted and deployed by engineering software.

Vulnerability class

CWE-347 signature verification, CWE-494 code integrity, and CWE-22 path traversal.

CVE-2026-110021

GSDX import checked manifest digests without verifying SignatureValue, allowing modified device descriptions to appear valid.

CVE-2026-110022

Unsigned entries could overwrite verified plug-in assemblies during deployment, permitting attacker-supplied code to load.

CVE-2026-110935

Archive traversal could write outside the plug-in repository with the current user's permissions.

Root cause

Signature checks did not cover all accepted content, and extraction did not confine archive paths.

Public evidence

CERT@VDE VDE-2026-121 documents all three findings, researcher credit, and the fixed release.

Practical impact

Under the advisory conditions, manipulated packages could alter engineering data, load untrusted code, or write outside the intended directory.

Disclosure status

Published November 4, 2026 in CERT@VDE VDE-2026-121, with credit to Ievgen Bondarenko.

Remediation

Upgrade to PLCnext Engineer 2026.6, as recommended by Phoenix Contact.

Public references