VulnerabilityPublished 14 Sep 2025Updated 15 Sep 2025

CVE-2025-0164: IBM QRadar SIEM · Incorrect Permissions

Affects IBM QRadar SIEMSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 2.3 Low.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

2.3Low

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

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 2% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

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

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

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: High: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide significant (e.g., administrative) control over the vulnerable component that could affect component-wide settings and files.
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: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
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 14 Sep 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 QRadar SIEM	Affected =7.5	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-0164 effectively, European organizations should: 1) Conduct a thorough audit of file permissions on all QRadar SIEM configuration files to ensure they adhere to the principle of least privilege, restricting access strictly to necessary system administrators. 2) Implement strict access controls and monitoring on hosts running QRadar SIEM to limit local privileged user accounts and enforce strong authentication and authorization policies. 3) Use host-based intrusion detection systems (HIDS) or file integrity monitoring (FIM) tools to detect unauthorized changes to configuration files promptly. 4) Regularly review and update QRadar SIEM software to the latest versions and patches once IBM releases fixes addressing this vulnerability. 5) Employ network segmentation and isolation for SIEM infrastructure to reduce the risk of local privilege misuse spreading laterally. 6) Train system administrators and privileged users on secure operational practices and the risks associated with improper permission assignments. 7) Incorporate this vulnerability into vulnerability management and penetration testing programs to verify that permissions are correctly configured and that no unauthorized access is possible.

Description

IBM QRadar SIEM 7.5 through 7.5 Update Pack 13 Independent Fix 01 could allow a local privileged user to perform unauthorized actions on configuration files due to improper permission assignment.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-0164 is generally limited due to the low severity and the requirement for local privileged access. However, given that IBM QRadar SIEM is a core component in many enterprise security infrastructures across Europe, any unauthorized access to configuration files could expose sensitive security configurations, such as log sources, correlation rules, or integration credentials. This exposure could weaken the overall security posture by enabling attackers or malicious insiders to understand or manipulate the SIEM environment indirectly. In regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, and critical infrastructure sectors prevalent in Europe, even low-severity vulnerabilities can have compliance implications if they lead to unauthorized data exposure. Moreover, the presence of this vulnerability could be leveraged as part of a multi-stage attack chain, especially in environments where local privileged users are not tightly controlled. The confidentiality impact, while limited, could facilitate reconnaissance or privilege escalation attempts if combined with other vulnerabilities or misconfigurations. Therefore, European organizations relying on QRadar SIEM should consider this vulnerability in their risk assessments and incident response planning, especially in high-security environments.

CWE-732Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighOWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product specifies permissions for a security-critical resource in a way that allows that resource to be read or modified by unintended actors.
Implementation
When using a critical resource such as a configuration file, check to see if the resource has insecure permissions (such as being modifiable by any regular user), and generate an error or even exit the software if there is a possibility that the resource could have been modified by an unauthorized party.
Architecture and Design
Divide the software into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully defining distinct user groups, privileges, and/or roles. Map these against data, functionality, and the related resources. Then set the permissions accordingly.
Architecture and Design · Operation · Sandbox or Jail
Run the code in a "jail" or similar sandbox environment that enforces strict boundaries between the process and the operating system. This may effectively restrict which files can be accessed in a particular directory or which commands can be executed by the software.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
REST Assessment (opens in a new tab)
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V4.3.3 (opens in a new tab)
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Accessing Functionality Not Properly Constrained by ACLs (opens in a new tab)
Directory Indexing (opens in a new tab)
Using Malicious Files (opens in a new tab)
Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels (opens in a new tab)
Signing Malicious Code (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

ibm.com/support/pages/node/7244784 (opens in a new tab)

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 22 Sep 2025, 00:37 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-732

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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