CVE-2025-36227 in Aspera Faspex
Summary
by MITRE • 03/10/2026
IBM Aspera Faspex 5 5.0.0 through 5.0.14.3 is vulnerable to HTTP header injection, caused by improper validation of input by the HOST headers. This could allow an attacker to conduct various attacks against the vulnerable system, including cross-site scripting, cache poisoning or session hijacking.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/14/2026
IBM Aspera Faspex version 5.0.0 through 5.0.14.3 contains a critical HTTP header injection vulnerability that stems from inadequate input validation within the HOST header processing functionality. This flaw represents a direct violation of secure coding practices and falls under the CWE-113 category for improper neutralization of input during web requests. The vulnerability occurs when the application fails to properly sanitize or validate the HOST header values before processing them, creating an avenue for malicious actors to inject arbitrary HTTP headers into the response. The technical implementation defect allows attackers to manipulate the HTTP request headers in ways that can compromise the integrity of the application's response handling mechanisms.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends across multiple attack vectors that align with the ATT&CK framework's T1531 technique for credential access through web application vulnerabilities. An attacker exploiting this weakness could execute cross-site scripting attacks by injecting malicious scripts through the manipulated HOST header, potentially leading to unauthorized access to user sessions and sensitive data exposure. Additionally, the vulnerability enables cache poisoning attacks where malicious content can be injected into web caches, affecting multiple users who subsequently access the compromised system. Session hijacking becomes feasible as the injected headers can manipulate session identifiers or authentication tokens, allowing unauthorized users to assume legitimate user identities within the application environment.
The exploitation of this vulnerability requires minimal technical sophistication while offering substantial impact potential, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where Aspera Faspex serves as a critical file transfer solution. Organizations utilizing affected versions face risks of data exfiltration, service disruption, and unauthorized system access that could compromise the entire file transfer infrastructure. The vulnerability's presence in multiple patch levels within the 5.0.x release series indicates a persistent flaw in the application's input validation architecture that requires immediate remediation. Security professionals should consider implementing network-level mitigations such as web application firewalls and header filtering rules as temporary measures while awaiting official patches from IBM.
Mitigation strategies should focus on immediate patch deployment for the affected IBM Aspera Faspex versions, along with comprehensive input validation enforcement across all HTTP header processing. Organizations must conduct thorough vulnerability assessments to identify potential exploitation attempts and implement monitoring solutions that can detect anomalous header injection patterns. The remediation process should include updating the application to the latest supported release and implementing proper header sanitization routines that prevent unauthorized header injection. Security teams should also review and update their incident response procedures to address potential exploitation scenarios that could arise from this vulnerability, ensuring readiness to respond to any compromise attempts that may occur during the remediation period.