CVE-2025-36119 in IBM
Summary
by MITRE • 08/08/2025
IBM i 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, and 7.6 is affected by an authenticated user obtaining elevated privileges with IBM Digital Certificate Manager for i (DCM) due to a web session hijacking vulnerability. An authenticated user without administrator privileges could exploit this vulnerability to perform actions in DCM as an administrator.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/15/2025
This vulnerability affects IBM i operating systems version 7.3 through 7.6 and specifically targets the IBM Digital Certificate Manager for i component. The flaw represents a critical privilege escalation issue that allows authenticated users to obtain administrative privileges within the DCM environment. The vulnerability stems from inadequate session management mechanisms that fail to properly validate user permissions during web-based operations, creating an opportunity for malicious users to hijack active sessions and assume elevated roles. This weakness directly impacts the principle of least privilege and undermines the security boundaries established within the IBM i platform.
The technical implementation of this web session hijacking vulnerability exploits the authentication flow within the DCM web interface. When users authenticate to the system, their session tokens or identifiers are not sufficiently protected against manipulation or interception. An authenticated user who lacks administrative privileges can potentially manipulate session state information or exploit weaknesses in session token generation to gain access to administrative functions within the DCM environment. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-384, which addresses session fixation and hijacking issues, and represents a significant deviation from proper access control implementation. The flaw essentially allows a user to bypass normal authorization checks by leveraging the existing authenticated session to perform privileged operations.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation as it compromises the integrity and confidentiality of certificate management operations within the IBM i environment. An attacker with limited privileges could potentially access, modify, or delete sensitive digital certificates, issue fraudulent certificates, or manipulate certificate revocation lists. This capability undermines the entire certificate management infrastructure and could lead to widespread security compromise within systems that rely on these certificates for secure communications. The vulnerability also creates potential for lateral movement within the network as certificate management systems often integrate with other security components and authentication services. Organizations using IBM i systems with DCM may face significant operational disruption if attackers exploit this vulnerability to gain unauthorized access to critical certificate infrastructure.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should include immediate application of IBM security patches and updates to the affected IBM i versions and DCM components. Organizations should implement enhanced session management controls including secure token generation, proper session timeout mechanisms, and regular session validation checks. Network segmentation and access controls should be strengthened to limit exposure of the DCM web interface to only authorized users and systems. Monitoring and logging of DCM access attempts and administrative operations should be enhanced to detect potential exploitation attempts. The implementation of multi-factor authentication for administrative access to DCM components would provide additional protection layers. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper session management and access control implementation in security-critical applications, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1078 for Valid Accounts and T1548 for Abuse of Cloud Admin Permissions, though adapted to the specific IBM i environment context.