VulnerabilityPublished 9 Oct 2025

CVE-2023-37401: IBM Aspera Faspex · Overly Permissive Cross-domain Whitelist

Affects IBM Aspera FaspexSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.3 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 10:12 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.3Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 12% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: Low
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 9 Oct 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
IBM Aspera Faspex	Affected =5.0.0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

European organizations should implement the following specific measures to mitigate CVE-2023-37401: 1) Immediately audit and restrict the cross-domain policy files in IBM Aspera Faspex installations to remove any untrusted or unnecessary domains from the whitelist. 2) Monitor IBM’s security advisories closely for official patches or updates addressing this vulnerability and apply them promptly once available. 3) Employ network segmentation and firewall rules to limit external access to Faspex servers only to trusted domains and IP addresses. 4) Conduct regular security assessments and penetration tests focusing on cross-domain interactions and policy configurations within Faspex environments. 5) Implement application-layer controls such as Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious cross-domain requests. 6) Educate system administrators and security teams on the risks associated with overly permissive cross-domain policies and best practices for secure configuration. 7) Maintain robust logging and monitoring to detect anomalous activities that could indicate exploitation attempts. These targeted actions go beyond generic advice by focusing on the specific configuration weakness and network controls relevant to Faspex deployments.

Description

IBM Aspera Faspex 5.0.0 through 5.0.13.1 uses a cross-domain policy file that includes domains that should not be trusted.

Impact

For European organizations, the vulnerability poses a moderate risk primarily to the integrity of data and operations involving IBM Aspera Faspex. Organizations relying on Faspex for secure file transfers, especially in sectors such as finance, healthcare, government, and critical infrastructure, could face unauthorized manipulation of transferred files or commands if exploited. This could lead to data corruption, unauthorized modifications, or disruption of business workflows. While confidentiality and availability are not directly impacted, integrity violations can have cascading effects, including regulatory non-compliance and loss of trust. The lack of required authentication or user interaction means attackers can exploit the vulnerability remotely, increasing exposure. Given the widespread use of IBM products in European enterprises, the vulnerability could affect multinational corporations and public sector entities that depend on secure cross-domain data exchange. However, the absence of known exploits in the wild reduces immediate threat levels, though proactive mitigation is essential to prevent future attacks.

CWE-942Permissive Cross-domain Security Policy with Untrusted Domains (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessOWASP Top 10 A02:2025: Security Misconfiguration (opens in a new tab)
The product uses a web-client protection mechanism such as a Content Security Policy (CSP) or cross-domain policy file, but the policy includes untrusted domains with which the web client is allowed to communicate.
Architecture and Design · Operation · Attack Surface Reduction
Define a restrictive Content Security Policy or cross-domain policy file.
Architecture and Design · Operation · Attack Surface Reduction
Avoid using wildcards in the CSP / cross-domain policy file. Any domain matching the wildcard expression will be implicitly trusted, and can perform two-way interaction with the target server.
Architecture and Design · Operation · Environment Hardening
For Flash, modify crossdomain.xml to use meta-policy options such as 'master-only' or 'none' to reduce the possibility of an attacker planting extraneous cross-domain policy files on a server.
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
V1.14.1 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

ibm.com/support/pages/node/7247502 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 9 Oct 2025, 14:23 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-942

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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