VulnerabilityPublished 20 Nov 2025

CVE-2025-36161: IBM Concert · Weak Cryptography

Affects IBM ConcertSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.9 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 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 13% 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 20 Nov 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 Concert	Affected =1.0.0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Organizations should immediately verify whether IBM Concert versions 1.0.0 through 2.0.0 are deployed in their environments. Since no official patches are currently available, administrators must manually enforce HTTPS by configuring web servers and application gateways to redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS and enable HSTS headers with appropriate parameters (e.g., 'max-age', 'includeSubDomains', 'preload'). Network-level protections such as TLS interception detection, strict certificate validation, and use of VPNs can reduce MitM risks. Regular network traffic monitoring and anomaly detection should be implemented to identify suspicious interception attempts. Additionally, organizations should engage with IBM support for updates or patches and plan for timely upgrades to fixed versions once released. Employee awareness about secure access and reporting unusual connection warnings in browsers can further reduce risk.

Description

CVE-2025-36161 is a medium severity vulnerability in IBM Concert versions 1.0.0 through 2.0.0, caused by the failure to properly enforce HTTP Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS). This misconfiguration allows remote attackers to perform man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks to intercept sensitive information transmitted over HTTP. The vulnerability stems from the use of a broken or risky cryptographic approach, classified under CWE-327. Exploitation does not require authentication or user interaction but has a higher attack complexity due to network conditions. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild. European organizations using IBM Concert should prioritize patching or mitigating this issue to protect confidentiality.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact is the potential exposure of sensitive information transmitted via IBM Concert due to MitM attacks exploiting the lack of HSTS enforcement. This could lead to unauthorized disclosure of confidential business data, intellectual property, or personal data, potentially violating GDPR and other data protection regulations. The vulnerability does not affect data integrity or availability directly but undermines trust in secure communications. Organizations in sectors such as finance, healthcare, government, and critical infrastructure that rely on IBM Concert for collaboration or data exchange are particularly at risk. The medium severity rating suggests that while exploitation is not trivial, the consequences of successful attacks could be significant, especially in environments with high-value data. The absence of known exploits in the wild provides a window for proactive mitigation before attackers develop weaponized methods.

Summary

CVE-2025-36161 identifies a vulnerability in IBM Concert versions 1.0.0 through 2.0.0 related to improper enforcement of HTTP Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS). HSTS is a web security policy mechanism that helps protect websites against protocol downgrade attacks and cookie hijacking by instructing browsers to interact with the server only over HTTPS. The failure to enable HSTS properly means that the application may accept HTTP connections or fail to enforce HTTPS strictly, exposing communications to interception. This vulnerability is categorized under CWE-327, indicating the use of a broken or risky cryptographic algorithm or mechanism. In this case, the risk arises from the lack of strict transport security rather than a cryptographic algorithm flaw per se, but it results in similar confidentiality risks. An attacker positioned on the network path can exploit this by performing man-in-the-middle attacks, intercepting or modifying sensitive data transmitted between clients and the IBM Concert server. The CVSS v3.1 score is 5.9 (medium), reflecting network attack vector, high attack complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction, and high confidentiality impact but no integrity or availability impact. No patches or exploits are currently documented, but the vulnerability poses a significant risk to data confidentiality if exploited.

CWE-327Use of a Broken or Risky Cryptographic Algorithm (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighOWASP Top 10 A04:2025: Cryptographic Failures (opens in a new tab)
The product uses a broken or risky cryptographic algorithm or protocol.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
When there is a need to store or transmit sensitive data, use strong, up-to-date cryptographic algorithms to encrypt that data. Select a well-vetted algorithm that is currently considered to be strong by experts in the field, and use well-tested implementations.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that the design allows one cryptographic algorithm to be replaced with another in the next generation or version. Where possible, use wrappers to make the interfaces uniform. This will make it easier to upgrade to stronger algorithms.
Architecture and Design
Carefully manage and protect cryptographic keys (see CWE-320). If the keys can be guessed or stolen, then the strength of the cryptography itself is irrelevant.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Cryptographic Storage (opens in a new tab)
Key Management (opens in a new tab)
Transport Layer Protection (opens in a new tab)
User Privacy Protection (opens in a new tab)
Password Storage (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.7 (opens in a new tab)
V2.9.3 (opens in a new tab)
V6.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Encryption Brute Forcing (opens in a new tab)
Creating a Rogue Certification Authority Certificate (opens in a new tab)
Signature Spoof (opens in a new tab)
Signature Spoofing by Improper Validation (opens in a new tab)
Cryptanalysis of Cellular Encryption (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

ibm.com/support/pages/node/7252019 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 27 Nov 2025, 16:45 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-327

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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