CVE-2025-36236VulnerabilityPublished 13 Nov 2025

CVE-2025-36236: IBM AIX · Path Traversal

Affects IBM AIXSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.2 High.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.2High

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

EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 44% 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:H/A:L

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

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: 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: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 13 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 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
Aixaix/aix`pkg:rpm/aix/aix`Other threats	Affected =7.2 =7.3	Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

1. Monitor IBM's official security advisories closely for patches or updates addressing CVE-2025-36236 and apply them promptly once available. 2. Until patches are released, restrict network access to the NIM server service (nimesis) by implementing strict firewall rules limiting inbound connections to trusted management networks only. 3. Employ network segmentation to isolate AIX and VIOS NIM servers from general user and internet-facing networks to reduce exposure. 4. Conduct thorough auditing and monitoring of file system changes on affected systems to detect unauthorized file writes indicative of exploitation attempts. 5. Use intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) with custom rules to identify suspicious URL requests targeting the NIM server service. 6. Review and harden NIM server configurations to disable unnecessary services or features that could be exploited. 7. Implement strict access controls and least privilege principles for administrative accounts managing AIX and VIOS environments. 8. Prepare incident response plans specific to potential exploitation scenarios involving path traversal and arbitrary file writes. 9. Educate system administrators about the vulnerability and encourage vigilance for anomalous system behavior or logs. 10. Consider temporary disabling or limiting the NIM server service if operationally feasible until a patch is applied.

Description

IBM AIX 7.2, and 7.3 and IBM VIOS 3.1, and 4.1 NIM server (formerly known as NIM master) service (nimesis) could allow a remote attacker to traverse directories on the system. An attacker could send a specially crafted URL request to write arbitrary files on the system.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-36236 can be substantial, especially those relying on IBM AIX 7.2/7.3 or VIOS NIM servers for critical infrastructure, enterprise applications, or virtualization management. Successful exploitation can lead to unauthorized modification of system files, undermining system integrity and potentially enabling attackers to establish persistence or disrupt operations. Although confidentiality is not directly impacted, the integrity breach can facilitate subsequent attacks that compromise sensitive data. The low availability impact suggests limited direct denial-of-service effects, but indirect operational disruptions could occur if system stability is affected. Organizations in sectors such as finance, telecommunications, manufacturing, and government, which often use IBM AIX in their backend systems, may face increased risk. The remote, unauthenticated nature of the exploit vector increases the threat surface, particularly for systems exposed to untrusted networks or insufficiently segmented environments. The absence of known exploits currently provides a window for proactive defense, but the high CVSS score indicates that attackers may prioritize developing exploits soon.

CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #6OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory.
Implementation · Input Validation
Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
Architecture and Design
For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks…
Implementation · Input Validation
Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174).
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V12.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Path Traversal (opens in a new tab)
Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic (opens in a new tab)
Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls (opens in a new tab)
Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding (opens in a new tab)
Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

ibm.com/support/pages/node/7251173 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 20 Nov 2025, 23:16 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-22

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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