CVE-2025-36040VulnerabilityPublished 30 Jul 2025

CVE-2025-36040: IBM Aspera Faspex · Insufficient Session Expiration

Affects IBM Aspera FaspexSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.5 Medium.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 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 14% 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:N/I:H/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: High
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: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to 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 30 Jul 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 Aspera Faspex	Affected =5.0.0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate this vulnerability effectively, European organizations should: 1) Monitor IBM’s official channels closely for patches or updates addressing CVE-2025-36040 and apply them immediately upon release. 2) Implement strict session management policies on the server side, ensuring that session expiration and invalidation are enforced server-side rather than relying on client-side controls. 3) Conduct regular audits of user sessions and access logs to detect any anomalous or unauthorized activities that could indicate exploitation attempts. 4) Limit the number of users with authenticated access to IBM Aspera Faspex and enforce the principle of least privilege to reduce the risk surface. 5) Consider additional compensating controls such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) to strengthen authentication mechanisms and reduce the risk of session hijacking or misuse. 6) Educate users about secure session handling and the importance of logging out properly to minimize session persistence risks. 7) If possible, deploy network-level protections such as web application firewalls (WAFs) to detect and block suspicious session-related activities.

Description

IBM Aspera Faspex 5.0.0 through 5.0.12.1 could allow an authenticated user to perform unauthorized actions due to client-side enforcement of sever side security mechanisms.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability can be significant, especially for industries relying on IBM Aspera Faspex for secure file transfers such as media, finance, healthcare, and government sectors. The ability for an authenticated user to perform unauthorized actions due to insufficient session expiration could lead to unauthorized modification or manipulation of transferred files, potentially compromising data integrity. This could disrupt business operations, lead to regulatory non-compliance (e.g., GDPR), and damage organizational reputation. Since the vulnerability does not affect confidentiality or availability directly, the primary risk lies in unauthorized changes to data or workflows, which could have cascading effects on decision-making, contractual obligations, or legal compliance. The medium severity rating suggests that while the threat is not critical, it should be addressed promptly to prevent exploitation, especially in environments with multiple authenticated users or where session management is critical for security.

CWE-613Insufficient Session Expiration (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A07:2025: Authentication Failures (opens in a new tab)
According to WASC, "Insufficient Session Expiration is when a web site permits an attacker to reuse old session credentials or session IDs for authorization."
Implementation
Set sessions/credentials expiration date.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
OWASP Authentication (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V2.8.1 (opens in a new tab)
V2.8.6 (opens in a new tab)
V3.6.1 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

ibm.com/support/pages/node/7241007 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 7 Aug 2025, 01:24 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-613

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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