Picture a control room where HMIs work, but historians freeze and jump servers vanish. Nothing “OT” was hacked, but the digital floor beneath them just crumbled. This article analyzes why CVE-2025-22225 in VMware ESXi is not just another IT vulnerability, but a systemic risk to industrial safety. We explore the mechanics of the “Guest-to-Host” escape, why the hypervisor must now be treated with the same rigor as a PLC, and the recoverability engineering actions—beyond patching—you need to take in the next 72 hours to secure your operational substrate.