CVE-2025-3050 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting IBM Db2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows versions 11.5.0 through 11.5.9 and 12.1.0 through 12.1.1, including DB2 Connect Server. The vulnerability arises from improper allocation of CPU resources during the use of Q replication, a feature used for data replication between Db2 databases. Specifically, an authenticated user with low privileges can trigger excessive CPU consumption without any throttling or limits, leading to a denial of service (DoS) condition. This resource exhaustion can degrade system performance or cause the database service to become unresponsive, impacting availability. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-770, which refers to allocation of resources without limits or throttling. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 5.3, indicating a medium severity, with the vector AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H. This means the attack can be launched remotely over the network but requires low privileges and high attack complexity, with no user interaction needed. The impact is limited to availability, with no confidentiality or integrity loss. There are no known exploits in the wild yet, and no patches are currently linked, so organizations should monitor IBM advisories for updates. The vulnerability is significant because Db2 is widely used in enterprise environments for critical data management, and Q replication is a common feature for high availability and disaster recovery setups. An attacker exploiting this flaw could disrupt database operations, causing downtime and impacting dependent applications and services.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-3050 can be substantial, especially for those relying on IBM Db2 for critical business operations, data warehousing, or transactional systems. The denial of service caused by CPU resource exhaustion can lead to unplanned outages, affecting service availability and potentially causing operational disruptions. Industries such as finance, telecommunications, manufacturing, and public sector entities that use Db2 extensively could face interruptions in their data replication processes, which might delay data synchronization and recovery efforts. This could also affect compliance with data availability regulations under GDPR if service disruptions impact data access or processing timelines. Additionally, the requirement for an authenticated user means insider threats or compromised low-privilege accounts could exploit this vulnerability, increasing risk. While confidentiality and integrity are not directly impacted, the availability degradation can have cascading effects on business continuity and customer trust.

To mitigate CVE-2025-3050, European organizations should take the following specific actions: 1) Immediately review and restrict access controls to limit the number of users with authentication privileges to the Db2 Q replication feature, minimizing the attack surface. 2) Monitor CPU usage patterns on Db2 servers closely, especially during replication operations, to detect abnormal spikes that may indicate exploitation attempts. 3) Implement resource governance policies at the operating system or virtualization layer to enforce CPU usage limits on Db2 processes, preventing any single user or process from exhausting resources. 4) Apply network segmentation and firewall rules to restrict access to Db2 replication ports only to trusted hosts and administrators. 5) Stay vigilant for IBM security advisories and apply patches or updates as soon as they become available. 6) Conduct regular security audits and penetration testing focused on database replication components to identify potential exploitation vectors. 7) Prepare incident response plans that include steps for rapid recovery from DoS conditions affecting database availability. These measures go beyond generic advice by focusing on access control tightening, resource governance, and proactive monitoring tailored to the specifics of this vulnerability.