VulnerabilityPublished 7 Mar 2025Updated 1 Sep 2025

CVE-2025-0162: IBM Aspera Shares · XML External Entity (XXE)

Affects IBM Aspera SharesSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.1 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 10:12 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.1High

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

EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 42% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

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

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: 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: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 7 Mar 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 Shares	Affected =1.9.9	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-0162 effectively, European organizations should implement the following specific measures: 1) Restrict and monitor access to IBM Aspera Shares instances, ensuring that only authorized users with a legitimate need have authentication credentials. 2) Employ network segmentation and firewall rules to limit exposure of Aspera Shares servers to trusted networks and users. 3) Enable and review detailed logging and alerting on XML processing errors and unusual memory usage patterns to detect potential exploitation attempts early. 4) Apply strict input validation and sanitization on XML data where possible, or configure XML parsers to disable external entity processing if configurable. 5) Conduct regular credential audits and enforce strong authentication mechanisms, such as multi-factor authentication, to reduce the risk of credential compromise. 6) Prepare incident response plans specifically addressing XXE attack scenarios. 7) Monitor IBM security advisories closely for patches or updates and plan for rapid deployment once available. 8) Consider temporary alternative secure file transfer solutions if risk exposure is unacceptable until a patch is released.

Description

IBM Aspera Shares 1.9.9 through 1.10.0 PL7 is vulnerable to an XML external entity injection (XXE) attack when processing XML data. A remote authenticated attacker could exploit this vulnerability to expose sensitive information or consume memory resources.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-0162 can be significant, especially for those relying on IBM Aspera Shares for secure file sharing and collaboration. The exposure of sensitive information through XXE attacks can lead to data breaches, violating GDPR requirements and potentially resulting in heavy fines and reputational damage. The memory consumption aspect could disrupt business operations by causing service outages or degraded performance, impacting availability of critical file transfer services. Since the vulnerability requires authentication, insider threats or compromised user credentials could be leveraged to exploit this flaw, increasing the risk in environments with weak access controls or insufficient monitoring. Organizations in sectors such as finance, healthcare, legal, and government, which often handle highly sensitive data, are particularly at risk. The lack of a patch at the time of disclosure means that organizations must rely on compensating controls to mitigate risk until a fix is available.

CWE-611Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A02:2025: Security Misconfiguration (opens in a new tab)
The product processes an XML document that can contain XML entities with URIs that resolve to documents outside of the intended sphere of control, causing the product to embed incorrect documents into its output.
Implementation · System Configuration
Many XML parsers and validators can be configured to disable external entity expansion.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Deserialization (opens in a new tab)
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
XML External Entity Prevention (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V5.5.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Data Serialization External Entities Blowup (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

ibm.com/support/pages/node/7185096 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 1 Sep 2025, 01:47 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-611

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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