CVE-2025-36020 is a medium-severity vulnerability identified in IBM Guardium Data Protection version 11.5. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-319, which pertains to the cleartext transmission of sensitive information. Specifically, this flaw allows a remote attacker to intercept sensitive credential information because the product transmits these credentials in cleartext over the network. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 5.9, reflecting a network attack vector (AV:N) with high attack complexity (AC:H), no privileges required (PR:N), and no user interaction needed (UI:N). The scope is unchanged (S:U), and the impact is high on confidentiality (C:H) but none on integrity (I:N) or availability (A:N). This means an attacker can eavesdrop on network traffic to obtain sensitive credentials without needing to authenticate or trick users, but cannot modify data or disrupt services directly through this vulnerability. IBM Guardium Data Protection is a security solution designed to monitor and protect sensitive data across enterprise environments, often deployed in organizations with stringent data compliance requirements. The lack of patch links and no known exploits in the wild suggest that the vulnerability is newly disclosed and may not yet be actively exploited, but the cleartext transmission of credentials is a critical security design flaw that could be leveraged in targeted attacks, especially in environments where network traffic is accessible to adversaries.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to the confidentiality of sensitive credentials used within IBM Guardium Data Protection deployments. Since Guardium is often employed in sectors with high regulatory oversight such as finance, healthcare, and government, exposure of credentials could lead to unauthorized access to critical data monitoring and protection systems. This could undermine compliance with GDPR and other data protection regulations, potentially resulting in legal and financial penalties. Additionally, attackers gaining credentials could move laterally within networks, escalating their access and compromising broader enterprise data security. The medium severity score reflects that while the vulnerability does not directly impact data integrity or availability, the confidentiality breach alone can have cascading effects on organizational security posture. European organizations with Guardium deployments that do not enforce encrypted communication channels or operate in environments where network traffic can be intercepted (e.g., shared or poorly segmented networks) are particularly at risk.

Organizations should immediately audit their IBM Guardium Data Protection 11.5 deployments to identify any instances where sensitive credentials might be transmitted in cleartext. Although no patch is currently linked, administrators should: 1) Enforce the use of encrypted communication protocols such as TLS for all internal and external communications involving Guardium components to prevent interception. 2) Implement network segmentation and strict access controls to limit exposure of Guardium traffic to trusted network segments only. 3) Monitor network traffic for unencrypted credential transmissions using intrusion detection systems or network monitoring tools. 4) Rotate any credentials that may have been exposed or transmitted insecurely. 5) Engage with IBM support to obtain any available patches or recommended configuration changes as soon as they become available. 6) Consider deploying additional layers of encryption or VPN tunnels for management and data traffic related to Guardium. 7) Educate security teams about this vulnerability to increase vigilance against potential exploitation attempts. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on immediate configuration and network controls to mitigate the risk until an official patch is released.