Overview
CVE-2025-36159 identifies a medium severity vulnerability affecting IBM Concert versions 1.0.0 through 2.0.0. This flaw allows a local user to manipulate log files, potentially impersonating other users or obscuring their own activities. This is achieved through improper neutralization of output, creating opportunities for malicious actors to inject arbitrary content into the logs.
Technical Details
The vulnerability stems from a lack of proper input validation and output encoding when IBM Concert writes to its log files. A local attacker can exploit this weakness by crafting specific inputs that, when processed by Concert, result in the injection of malicious log entries. These entries can be used to impersonate other users, mask the attacker’s actions, or even potentially disrupt system operations by injecting misleading or false information.
Specifically, the issue lies in the inadequate sanitization of user-controlled data before it’s written to the log files. This allows an attacker to inject arbitrary text and control characters that can be interpreted as legitimate log entries.
Example scenario:
// Hypothetical vulnerable code snippet
// This is for illustrative purposes only and may not reflect the actual Concert codebase.
String username = getUserInput(); // Attacker controlled input
String logMessage = "User " + username + " logged in.";
writeToLog(logMessage); // Vulnerable point: No sanitization of username
CVSS Analysis
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) assigns CVE-2025-36159 a score of 6.2 (Medium).
- Attack Vector (AV): Local (L) – The attacker requires local access to the system.
- Attack Complexity (AC): Low (L) – The vulnerability is easily exploitable.
- Privileges Required (PR): Low (L) – The attacker needs only basic user privileges.
- User Interaction (UI): None (N) – No user interaction is required.
- Scope (S): Unchanged (U) – The vulnerability’s impact is limited to the affected component.
- Confidentiality Impact (C): Low (L) – Limited impact on confidentiality. The attacker might be able to read some log data.
- Integrity Impact (I): Low (L) – Limited impact on integrity. The attacker can modify log data.
- Availability Impact (A): None (N) – No impact on availability.
Possible Impact
The successful exploitation of CVE-2025-36159 can lead to the following consequences:
- Impersonation: An attacker can forge log entries to appear as another user, potentially bypassing auditing and accountability measures.
- Covering Tracks: Malicious activities can be concealed by manipulating log files to remove or alter traces of the attacker’s actions.
- Compromised Audit Trails: The integrity of audit logs is compromised, making it difficult to accurately track system events and detect security breaches.
- Potential for Escalation: While rated as Medium, this vulnerability could be chained with other vulnerabilities to achieve a higher level of access or impact.
Mitigation and Patch Steps
IBM has released a fix for this vulnerability. It is highly recommended to upgrade to a version of IBM Concert that incorporates the patch. Follow these steps:
- Identify Affected Systems: Determine all systems running IBM Concert versions 1.0.0 through 2.0.0.
- Apply the Patch: Download and install the latest security update for IBM Concert from the official IBM support website.
- Verify the Fix: After applying the patch, verify that the vulnerability is resolved by reviewing the updated log handling mechanisms.
- Monitor Logs: Continuously monitor system logs for any suspicious activity.
Refer to the official IBM security bulletin for detailed instructions and the latest information.
