CVE-2024-22341VulnerabilityPublished 22 Feb 2025Updated 30 Sep 2025

CVE-2024-22341: IBM Watson Query on Cloud Pak for Data · External Control of File Name or Path

Affects IBM Watson Query on Cloud Pak for DataSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.3 Medium.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.3Medium

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

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 39% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: High
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
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: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
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: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within 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 22 Feb 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 2026-10-25.

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 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 Watson Query on Cloud Pak for Data	Affected =4.8.0 =4.7.0 =4.6.0 =4.5.0 =4.0.0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

1. Monitor IBM's official security advisories and apply patches or updates promptly once available to address CVE-2024-22341. 2. Review and tighten privilege management configurations within IBM Watson Query on Cloud Pak for Data, ensuring that remote data source objects have strict access controls and minimal privileges assigned. 3. Implement network segmentation and firewall rules to restrict access to IBM Watson Query services only to trusted networks and users. 4. Conduct thorough audits of data source connections and access logs to detect any unauthorized or anomalous access attempts. 5. Employ data encryption at rest and in transit to reduce the impact of unauthorized data access. 6. Use multi-factor authentication and strong identity and access management policies to limit the risk of privilege escalation. 7. Consider deploying runtime application self-protection (RASP) or web application firewalls (WAF) that can detect and block suspicious path or file name manipulations. 8. Train security teams to recognize indicators of compromise related to unauthorized data access attempts in IBM Watson Query environments.

Description

IBM Watson Query on Cloud Pak for Data 4.0.0 through 4.0.9, 4.5.0 through 4.5.3, 4.6.0 through 4.6.6, 4.7.0 through 4.7.4, and 4.8.0 through 4.8.7 could allow unauthorized data access from a remote data source object due to improper privilege management.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to data confidentiality, especially for entities relying on IBM Watson Query on Cloud Pak for Data for analytics and data integration. Unauthorized access to sensitive data could lead to data breaches, regulatory non-compliance (e.g., GDPR violations), and reputational damage. Given the nature of the vulnerability—external control of file names or paths—attackers might exploit it to access data repositories or files not intended for their access level. This is particularly critical for sectors handling sensitive personal data, financial information, or intellectual property. The medium severity score indicates that while exploitation is not trivial, the potential impact on confidentiality is high. European organizations with distributed cloud environments or hybrid data sources may face increased exposure due to the network-based attack vector. The lack of known exploits currently reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the threat, especially as attackers may develop exploits over time.

CWE-73External Control of File Name or Path (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighOWASP Top 10 A06:2025: Insecure Design (opens in a new tab)
The product allows user input to control or influence paths or file names that are used in filesystem operations.
Architecture and Design
When the set of filenames is limited or known, create a mapping from a set of fixed input values (such as numeric IDs) to the actual filenames, and reject all other inputs. For example, ID 1 could map to "inbox.txt" and ID 2 could map to "profile.txt".
Architecture and Design · Operation
Run your code in a "jail" or similar sandbox environment that enforces strict boundaries between the process and the operating system. This may effectively restrict all access to files within a particular directory.
Architecture and Design
For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks…
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
Secure Design Principles (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V12.3.2 (opens in a new tab)
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Subverting Environment Variable Values (opens in a new tab)
Leverage Alternate Encoding (opens in a new tab)
Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic (opens in a new tab)
URL Encoding (opens in a new tab)
Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

ibm.com/support/pages/node/7183851 (opens in a new tab)

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 4 Oct 2025, 10:27 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-73

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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