CVE-2025-36020VulnerabilityPublished 6 Aug 2025Updated 22 Oct 2025

CVE-2025-36020: IBM Guardium Data Protection · Cleartext Transmission

Affects IBM Guardium Data ProtectionSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.9 Medium.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.9Medium

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:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: High
Privileges Required: None
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: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
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 6 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 2026-10-25.

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 Guardium Data Protection	Affected =11.5 =12.0 =12.1	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Organizations should immediately audit their IBM Guardium deployments to identify affected versions (11.5, 12.0, 12.1). Until official patches are released, enforce network-level protections such as VPNs or TLS tunnels to ensure encryption of all communications involving Guardium credentials. Network segmentation should isolate Guardium management traffic from untrusted networks. Implement strict monitoring and alerting for any unencrypted credential transmissions or unusual access patterns. Review and rotate credentials used by Guardium components regularly to limit exposure. Engage with IBM support for updates on patches or workarounds. Additionally, conduct penetration testing to verify that no cleartext credential leaks occur in the environment. Finally, ensure that all security policies and incident response plans consider potential credential compromise scenarios related to this vulnerability.

Description

CVE-2025-36020 is a medium severity vulnerability in IBM Guardium Data Protection versions 11.5, 12.0, and 12.1. It involves the cleartext transmission of sensitive credential information, allowing a remote attacker to intercept and obtain these credentials. The vulnerability does not require authentication or user interaction but has a high attack complexity, limiting exploitability. While it impacts confidentiality, it does not affect integrity or availability. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild. European organizations using affected IBM Guardium versions for database security and compliance monitoring could face increased risk of credential compromise. Mitigation involves ensuring encrypted communication channels, applying vendor patches when available, and monitoring network traffic for unencrypted sensitive data.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a risk primarily to the confidentiality of sensitive credential information used within IBM Guardium Data Protection deployments. Compromise of these credentials could lead to unauthorized access to database monitoring systems, potentially allowing attackers to bypass security controls, access sensitive data, or disrupt compliance monitoring. Given Guardium's role in protecting critical data assets, exploitation could indirectly affect data privacy obligations under GDPR and other regulations. The medium severity and high attack complexity reduce the likelihood of widespread exploitation, but targeted attacks against financial institutions, government agencies, or critical infrastructure operators using Guardium could have significant consequences. The lack of impact on integrity and availability limits the scope of damage but does not diminish the risk of credential theft and subsequent attacks.

Summary

CVE-2025-36020 is a vulnerability classified under CWE-319, which pertains to the cleartext transmission of sensitive information. Specifically, IBM Guardium Data Protection versions 11.5, 12.0, and 12.1 transmit sensitive credential data without adequate encryption, exposing it to interception by remote attackers. The vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker to eavesdrop on network communications and extract credentials, potentially enabling further unauthorized access. The CVSS v3.1 score of 5.9 reflects a medium severity, with the vector indicating network attack vector (AV:N), high attack complexity (AC:H), no privileges required (PR:N), no user interaction (UI:N), unchanged scope (S:U), high confidentiality impact (C:H), and no impact on integrity or availability (I:N/A:N). The high attack complexity suggests that exploitation requires specific conditions or capabilities, such as network positioning or advanced sniffing tools. IBM has not yet released patches, and no active exploits have been reported. Guardium is widely used for database activity monitoring and data protection in enterprise environments, making the exposure of credentials a significant risk for lateral movement or privilege escalation if exploited.

CWE-319Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighOWASP Top 10 A04:2025: Cryptographic Failures (opens in a new tab)
The product transmits sensitive or security-critical data in cleartext in a communication channel that can be sniffed by unauthorized actors.
Architecture and Design
Before transmitting, encrypt the data using reliable, confidentiality-protecting cryptographic protocols.
Implementation
When using web applications with SSL, use SSL for the entire session from login to logout, not just for the initial login page.
Implementation
When designing hardware platforms, ensure that approved encryption algorithms (such as those recommended by NIST) protect paths from security critical data to trusted user applications.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Transport Layer Protection (opens in a new tab)
TLS Cipher String (opens in a new tab)
User Privacy Protection (opens in a new tab)
Password Storage (opens in a new tab)
Cryptographic Storage (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V9.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
V1.9.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Session Sidejacking (opens in a new tab)
Harvesting Information via API Event Monitoring (opens in a new tab)
Signature Spoofing by Mixing Signed and Unsigned Content (opens in a new tab)
Sniff Application Code (opens in a new tab)
Interception (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

ibm.com/support/pages/node/7241547 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 29 Oct 2025, 19:08 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-319

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats