VulnerabilityPublished 19 Jun 2025Updated 24 Aug 2025

CVE-2025-33121: IBM QRadar SIEM · XML External Entity (XXE)

Affects IBM QRadar SIEMSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.1 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.1High

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

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 41% 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 19 Jun 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-2025-33121 effectively, European organizations should: 1) Monitor IBM’s official security advisories closely for the release of patches or updates addressing this vulnerability and prioritize timely deployment once available. 2) Implement network segmentation and access controls to restrict XML data inputs to QRadar SIEM from trusted and authenticated sources only, minimizing exposure to untrusted external inputs. 3) Employ XML parsing configurations or wrappers that disable or limit external entity processing where possible, either through custom configurations or intermediary security controls such as web application firewalls (WAFs) that can detect and block malicious XML payloads. 4) Conduct thorough security assessments and penetration testing focused on XML input handling within QRadar deployments to identify potential exploitation paths. 5) Enhance monitoring for unusual memory consumption or anomalous XML processing activity within QRadar logs and system metrics to detect early signs of exploitation attempts. 6) Review and harden QRadar’s integration points and data ingestion pipelines to ensure strict validation and sanitization of incoming XML data. 7) Educate security operations teams about the risks of XXE attacks and the importance of maintaining up-to-date SIEM software to preserve the integrity of security monitoring.

Description

IBM QRadar SIEM 7.5 through 7.5.0 Update Package 12 is vulnerable to an XML external entity injection (XXE) attack when processing XML data. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to expose sensitive information or consume memory resources.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-33121 is significant due to the widespread adoption of IBM QRadar SIEM in enterprise security environments, including government, finance, telecommunications, and critical infrastructure sectors. Exposure of sensitive information through XXE exploitation could lead to leakage of confidential data such as security event logs, user credentials, or internal network topology, which attackers could use for further intrusion or lateral movement. Memory resource exhaustion could degrade the availability and reliability of the SIEM platform, impairing real-time threat detection and incident response capabilities. This is particularly critical for organizations subject to stringent data protection regulations like GDPR, where unauthorized data disclosure can result in regulatory penalties and reputational damage. Moreover, compromised SIEM systems may provide attackers with a foothold to manipulate or evade security monitoring, increasing the risk of undetected breaches. The vulnerability’s network accessibility and lack of required user interaction heighten the risk of remote exploitation, especially in environments where QRadar is exposed to less trusted networks or integrated with external data sources.

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/7237317 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 25 Aug 2025, 00:40 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-611

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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