VulnerabilityPublished 16 Jul 2025Updated 18 Aug 2025

CVE-2025-36097: IBM WebSphere Application Server · Stack-based Buffer Overflow

Affects IBM WebSphere Application ServerSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 08:30 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

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: 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: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 16 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 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 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 WebSphere Application Server	Affected =9.0 >=17.0.0.3 <=25.0.0.7	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

1. Immediate action should include restricting network access to IBM WebSphere Application Server instances by implementing strict firewall rules and network segmentation to limit exposure to untrusted networks. 2. Monitor network traffic for unusual or malformed requests targeting WebSphere servers that could indicate exploitation attempts. 3. Apply any available IBM security advisories or patches as soon as they are released; if patches are not yet available, consider temporary mitigations such as disabling vulnerable features or modules if feasible. 4. Employ Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious payloads that may trigger the buffer overflow. 5. Conduct thorough vulnerability scanning and penetration testing focused on WebSphere environments to identify and remediate exposure. 6. Maintain up-to-date backups and incident response plans to quickly recover from potential denial of service incidents. 7. Engage with IBM support and subscribe to their security bulletins to receive timely updates on patches and mitigation guidance.

Description

IBM WebSphere Application Server 9.0 and WebSphere Application Server Liberty 17.0.0.3 through 25.0.0.7 are vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by a stack-based overflow. An attacker can send a specially crafted request that cause the server to consume excessive memory resources.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability can be substantial, especially for those that depend on IBM WebSphere Application Server for their enterprise application infrastructure. A successful exploitation can cause service outages, disrupting business continuity and potentially leading to financial losses and reputational damage. Since the vulnerability allows denial of service without requiring authentication or user interaction, attackers can easily target exposed WebSphere servers over the network. This can affect sectors such as finance, government, telecommunications, and manufacturing, where WebSphere is commonly deployed. Additionally, prolonged downtime or repeated attacks could strain IT resources and incident response teams. Although no data breach or code execution is indicated, the availability impact alone can be critical for time-sensitive or customer-facing applications. The lack of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate risk, but the ease of exploitation and high severity score warrant proactive measures.

CWE-121Stack-based Buffer Overflow (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #14
A stack-based buffer overflow condition is a condition where the buffer being overwritten is allocated on the stack (i.e., is a local variable or, rarely, a parameter to a function).
Operation · Build and Compilation · Environment Hardening
Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index…
Architecture and Design
Use an abstraction library to abstract away risky APIs. Not a complete solution.
Implementation
Implement and perform bounds checking on input.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

ibm.com/support/pages/node/7239856 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 19 Aug 2025, 01:18 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-121

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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