CVE-2025-33111VulnerabilityPublished 8 Dec 2025

CVE-2025-33111: IBM Controller · Creation of Temporary File in Directory with Insecure Permissions

Affects IBM ControllerSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.3 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.3Medium

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

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 11% 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:L/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
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: 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: 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 8 Dec 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 2026-10-26.

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 Controller	Affected =11.1.0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Organizations should implement the following specific mitigations: 1) Restrict and audit access permissions on directories used for temporary file creation to ensure only authorized processes and users have write/read access. 2) Monitor and log file system activities related to temporary files to detect unusual access patterns indicative of exploitation attempts. 3) Apply the principle of least privilege to all users and service accounts interacting with IBM Controller software. 4) Segregate environments and use isolated temporary directories per user or process to reduce race condition risks. 5) Engage with IBM support to obtain patches or updates addressing this vulnerability as soon as they become available. 6) Conduct internal code reviews or configuration audits to verify that temporary file handling follows secure atomic operation practices. 7) Educate administrators and users about the risks of authenticated insider threats and enforce strong authentication mechanisms to reduce credential compromise. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on file system permissions, monitoring, and operational controls specific to the nature of this race condition vulnerability.

Description

IBM Controller 11.1.0 through 11.1.1 and IBM Cognos Controller 11.0.0 through 11.0.1 FP6 is vulnerable to creation of temporary files without atomic operations which may expose sensitive information to an authenticated user due to race condition attacks.

Impact

For European organizations, especially those in finance, manufacturing, and large enterprises relying on IBM Controller and Cognos Controller products, this vulnerability could lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive financial or operational data. Although the impact is limited to confidentiality and requires authenticated access, insider threats or compromised credentials could be leveraged to exploit this vulnerability. The exposure of temporary files could reveal sensitive business intelligence, financial reports, or configuration details, potentially aiding further attacks or corporate espionage. The medium severity rating suggests that while the vulnerability is not critical, it still represents a meaningful risk to data privacy and compliance with European data protection regulations such as GDPR. Organizations with multi-user environments or shared file systems are particularly at risk. The lack of known exploits reduces immediate urgency but does not eliminate the need for proactive mitigation.

CWE-379Creation of Temporary File in Directory with Insecure Permissions (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: LowOWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product creates a temporary file in a directory whose permissions allow unintended actors to determine the file's existence or otherwise access that file.
Requirements
Many contemporary languages have functions which properly handle this condition. Older C temp file functions are especially susceptible.
Implementation
Try to store sensitive tempfiles in a directory which is not world readable -- i.e., per-user directories.
Implementation
Avoid using vulnerable temp file functions.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

ibm.com/support/pages/node/7253273 (opens in a new tab)

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 16 Dec 2025, 05:01 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-379

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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