VulnerabilityPublished 28 Aug 2025

CVE-2025-31977: HCL Software BigFix Service Management (SM) · Missing Encryption of Sensitive Data

Affects HCL Software BigFix Service Management (SM)Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.3 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.3Medium

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

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 0% 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 28 Aug 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
HCL Software BigFix Service Management (SM)	Affected =23	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

European organizations using HCL BigFix SM version 23 should immediately assess their exposure to this vulnerability. Specific mitigation steps include: 1) Monitoring HCL's official channels for patches or updates addressing this cryptographic weakness and applying them promptly once available. 2) If patches are not yet available, consider network-level mitigations such as enforcing strong TLS configurations on all communications involving BigFix SM, including disabling legacy or weak cipher suites and protocols. 3) Restrict network access to BigFix SM services to trusted internal networks and VPNs to reduce the attack surface. 4) Implement network monitoring and intrusion detection systems to identify anomalous traffic patterns that could indicate attempts to exploit cryptographic weaknesses. 5) Review and enhance endpoint security to detect lateral movement attempts that may follow exploitation. 6) Conduct security awareness and incident response drills focusing on cryptographic vulnerabilities and data interception scenarios. 7) Evaluate alternative or additional endpoint management tools with stronger cryptographic assurances if remediation is delayed.

Description

HCL BigFix SM is affected by cryptographic weakness due to weak or outdated encryption algorithms. An attacker with network access could exploit this weakness to decrypt or manipulate encrypted communications under certain conditions.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to the confidentiality of sensitive operational data managed through BigFix SM. Since BigFix SM is used for endpoint management, patching, and service automation, interception or decryption of communications could expose sensitive configuration details, credentials, or operational commands. This could facilitate further attacks such as lateral movement, espionage, or disruption of IT service management processes. The lack of impact on integrity and availability reduces the risk of direct service disruption but does not mitigate the confidentiality breach risk. Organizations in regulated sectors such as finance, healthcare, and critical infrastructure in Europe could face compliance violations under GDPR and other data protection regulations if sensitive data is exposed. The medium severity rating suggests that while exploitation is not trivial, the potential data exposure is significant enough to warrant prompt attention.

CWE-311Missing Encryption of Sensitive Data (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighOWASP Top 10 A06:2025: Insecure Design (opens in a new tab)
The product does not encrypt sensitive or critical information before storage or transmission.
MITRE discourages mapping vulnerabilities to this broad entry; the root cause is usually a more specific weakness.
Requirements
Clearly specify which data or resources are valuable enough that they should be protected by encryption. Require that any transmission or storage of this data/resource should use well-vetted encryption algorithms.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that encryption is properly integrated into the system design, including but not necessarily limited to: Encryption that is needed to store or transmit private data of the users of the system; Encryption that is needed to protect the system itself from unauthorized disclosure or tampering
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
When there is a need to store or transmit sensitive data, use strong, up-to-date cryptographic algorithms to encrypt that data. Select a well-vetted algorithm that is currently considered to be strong by experts in the field, and use well-tested implementations.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
User Privacy Protection (opens in a new tab)
Secure Design Principles (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V6.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
V6.1.2 (opens in a new tab)
V6.1.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Sniffing Attacks (opens in a new tab)
Sniffing Network Traffic (opens in a new tab)
Lifting Sensitive Data Embedded in Cache (opens in a new tab)
Accessing/Intercepting/Modifying HTTP Cookies (opens in a new tab)
Retrieve Embedded Sensitive Data (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

support.hcl-software.com/csm?id=kb_article&sysparm_article=KB0123631 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 28 Aug 2025, 17:32 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-311

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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