CVE-2025-36253 identifies a cryptographic vulnerability in IBM Concert versions 1.0.0 through 2.1.0, where the software employs one-way hashing algorithms without incorporating a salt. The absence of a salt in hashing processes significantly reduces the entropy and uniqueness of the hash outputs, making them susceptible to precomputed hash attacks such as rainbow table lookups. This weakness allows attackers to potentially reverse the hash values to retrieve the original sensitive data, thereby compromising confidentiality. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N) indicates that the attack can be performed remotely over the network but requires high attack complexity, no privileges, and no user interaction. The vulnerability does not affect data integrity or system availability. Although no public exploits have been reported, the cryptographic flaw represents a latent risk, especially in environments where sensitive information is protected solely by these weak hashes. IBM Concert is used in enterprise environments for various business processes, and the affected versions are relatively old, but still may be in use in some organizations. The vulnerability stems from the CWE-759 category, which highlights the use of one-way hashes without salts as a known cryptographic weakness. The lack of patch links suggests that remediation may require configuration changes or updates from IBM. Organizations should audit their use of IBM Concert and assess exposure to this vulnerability.

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2025-36253 lies in the potential exposure of highly sensitive information due to weak cryptographic protections. Confidentiality breaches could lead to data leaks involving intellectual property, personal data protected under GDPR, or other critical business information. This could result in regulatory penalties, reputational damage, and loss of customer trust. Since the vulnerability does not affect integrity or availability, operational disruption is unlikely. However, the risk of data compromise is significant in sectors such as finance, healthcare, government, and critical infrastructure where IBM Concert may be deployed. The medium CVSS score reflects that exploitation is not trivial, requiring high complexity, but the lack of required privileges or user interaction lowers the barrier somewhat. European entities relying on IBM Concert for sensitive workflows should consider this vulnerability a moderate threat to data confidentiality and prioritize mitigation accordingly.

To mitigate CVE-2025-36253, European organizations should: 1) Identify all instances of IBM Concert in their environment and verify the version in use, prioritizing upgrades or patches if IBM releases them. 2) If patches are unavailable, work with IBM support to obtain guidance or configuration changes that enforce the use of salted hashes or stronger cryptographic algorithms. 3) Conduct a cryptographic audit of data protected by IBM Concert to identify where unsalted hashes are used and replace them with salted hashes or modern key derivation functions such as PBKDF2, bcrypt, or Argon2. 4) Implement network segmentation and strict access controls around systems running IBM Concert to reduce exposure to remote attacks. 5) Monitor logs and data access patterns for unusual activity that could indicate attempts to exploit this vulnerability. 6) Educate security teams about the risks of unsalted hashes and ensure cryptographic best practices are followed in all software deployments. 7) Review data retention and encryption policies to limit the impact of any potential data exposure. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on cryptographic remediation and operational controls specific to the vulnerability.