VulnerabilityPublished 8 Aug 2025

CVE-2025-36023: IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation · Insecure Direct Object Reference

Affects IBM Cloud Pak for Business AutomationSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.5 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.5Medium

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

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 17% 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:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
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: 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: 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 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
IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation	Affected =24.0.0 =24.0.1	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

European organizations should prioritize the following mitigation steps: 1) Immediately review and restrict access controls within IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation to limit authenticated user privileges to the minimum necessary. 2) Monitor and audit user activities to detect anomalous access patterns or attempts to access unauthorized data. 3) Apply IBM-provided patches or interim fixes as soon as they become available; in the absence of patches, consider deploying compensating controls such as network segmentation and enhanced authentication mechanisms (e.g., multi-factor authentication) to reduce risk. 4) Conduct thorough security assessments and penetration testing focused on authorization mechanisms within the affected versions. 5) Educate users and administrators about the risks of credential compromise and enforce strong password policies. 6) Implement logging and alerting for indirect object reference access attempts to enable rapid incident response. 7) Engage with IBM support for guidance and updates on remediation timelines. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on access control tightening, monitoring, and compensating controls tailored to the nature of the vulnerability.

Description

IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation 24.0.0 through 24.0.0 IF005 and 24.0.1 through 24.0.1 IF002 could allow an authenticated user to view sensitive user and system information due to an indirect object reference through a user-controlled key.

Impact

For European organizations using IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to confidentiality. Sensitive user and system information exposure could lead to further targeted attacks, data leakage, or compliance violations, especially under strict data protection regulations such as GDPR. Since the vulnerability requires authentication, the threat is primarily from malicious insiders or compromised legitimate accounts. However, given the network attack vector, attackers who gain valid credentials could remotely exploit this flaw without additional user interaction. The exposure of sensitive information could undermine trust, cause operational disruptions, and potentially lead to regulatory penalties. Organizations in sectors such as finance, healthcare, government, and critical infrastructure that rely on IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation for business process automation and workflow management are particularly at risk. The lack of known exploits in the wild reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the threat, as attackers may develop exploits once the vulnerability details become widely known.

CWE-639Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #24OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The system's authorization functionality does not prevent one user from gaining access to another user's data or record by modifying the key value identifying the data.
Architecture and Design
For each and every data access, ensure that the user has sufficient privilege to access the record that is being requested.
Architecture and Design · Implementation
Make sure that the key that is used in the lookup of a specific user's record is not controllable externally by the user or that any tampering can be detected.
Architecture and Design
Use encryption in order to make it more difficult to guess other legitimate values of the key or associate a digital signature with the key so that the server can verify that there has been no tampering.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Access Control (opens in a new tab)
Authorization Testing Automation (opens in a new tab)
Cross-Site Request Forgery Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Insecure Direct Object Reference Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V4.1.2 (opens in a new tab)
V4.2.1 (opens in a new tab)
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

ibm.com/support/pages/node/7241570 (opens in a new tab)

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 8 Aug 2025, 15:17 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-639

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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