Medium · published December 19, 2025
Ignition by Inductive Automation, when installed with default OS service
account settings, may expose the host system to an elevated code
execution risk via the gateway backup restore functionality. An
authenticated user with Gateway Administrator privileges can import a
malicious gateway backup (.gwbk) file containing crafted project
resources, scripts, or modules, resulting in code execution on the host
system. This affects both Windows and Linux installations. On Windows,
default installations often run the Ignition service as NT
AUTHORITY\SYSTEM, resulting in code execution with full local system
privileges. On Linux, default installations commonly run the Ignition
service as root or with elevated privileges. Specific privilege level
depends on installation configuration.