CVE-2025-14684: IBM Maximo Monitor Log Injection Flaw

CVE-2025-14684 Overview

CVE-2025-14684 is a Log Injection vulnerability affecting IBM Maximo Application Suite - Monitor Component across multiple versions. The vulnerability exists due to improper neutralization of special elements when data is written to log files, which could allow an unauthorized user to inject malicious data into log messages. This vulnerability is classified under CWE-117 (Improper Output Neutralization for Logs).

Critical Impact

Unauthorized users can inject arbitrary data into application log files, potentially enabling log forgery, tampering with audit trails, or facilitating further attacks through crafted log entries.

Affected Products

• IBM Maximo Application Suite - Monitor Component 9.1
• IBM Maximo Application Suite - Monitor Component 9.0
• IBM Maximo Application Suite - Monitor Component 8.11
• IBM Maximo Application Suite - Monitor Component 8.10

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-03-25 - CVE CVE-2025-14684 published to NVD
• 2026-03-26 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-14684

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding when logging user-controlled data. IBM Maximo Application Suite - Monitor Component fails to properly neutralize special elements such as newline characters, carriage returns, and other control characters before writing them to log files. This allows attackers to forge log entries, inject malicious content, or manipulate the log structure.

The local attack vector requires the attacker to have some level of access to the system or application interface to provide malicious input that subsequently gets logged. While no authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability, the impact is limited to integrity concerns with no direct effect on confidentiality or availability.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper neutralization of CRLF sequences (Carriage Return Line Feed) and other special characters in user-supplied input before writing to log files. When applications log user input without proper sanitization, attackers can inject fake log entries or corrupt log file integrity.

This weakness falls under CWE-117 (Improper Output Neutralization for Logs), which describes the application's failure to neutralize or incorrectly neutralize output that is written to logs. In the context of IBM Maximo Application Suite, the Monitor Component does not adequately sanitize input data before including it in log messages.

Attack Vector

The attack requires local access to the system where the IBM Maximo Application Suite is deployed. An attacker can craft malicious input containing special characters such as newlines (\n) or carriage returns (\r) that, when logged, create false log entries or corrupt the log file structure.

A successful exploitation scenario involves:

1. The attacker identifies an input field or API endpoint that logs user-provided data
2. The attacker submits malicious input containing CRLF sequences and fabricated log content
3. The application writes the input directly to the log file without sanitization
4. The injected content appears as legitimate log entries, potentially masking malicious activities or creating false audit trails

The vulnerability mechanism involves insufficient output encoding when writing to log files. For technical implementation details, refer to the IBM Support Document.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-14684

Indicators of Compromise

• Log entries containing unexpected CRLF sequences or control characters
• Abnormal log file formatting with entries appearing fragmented or duplicated
• Suspicious log entries that do not correlate with actual application activity
• Evidence of log tampering or entries with inconsistent timestamps

Detection Strategies

• Implement log integrity monitoring to detect unauthorized modifications to log files
• Deploy file integrity monitoring (FIM) solutions to track changes to log file metadata and content
• Configure SIEM rules to detect anomalous log patterns such as duplicate entries or unusual formatting
• Monitor for applications writing to log files with unexpected character sequences

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable audit logging for all access to IBM Maximo Application Suite log files
• Implement centralized log collection with write-once storage to preserve log integrity
• Establish baseline log patterns and alert on deviations from normal behavior
• Review application logs regularly for signs of injection attempts or log forgery

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-14684

Immediate Actions Required

• Apply the security patch from IBM as documented in the official support advisory
• Upgrade IBM Maximo Application Suite - Monitor Component to a patched version
• Implement input validation to filter CRLF sequences and special characters before logging
• Review and audit existing log files for potential compromise

Patch Information

IBM has released a security update to address this vulnerability. Organizations running affected versions of IBM Maximo Application Suite - Monitor Component (9.1, 9.0, 8.11, 8.10) should apply the patch immediately. For detailed patch instructions and download information, refer to the IBM Support Document.

Workarounds

• Implement application-level input sanitization to remove or encode CRLF sequences before logging
• Configure web application firewalls to filter requests containing log injection payloads
• Restrict access to log files using file system permissions to limit potential attacker access
• Consider implementing log signing or cryptographic integrity verification for critical audit logs

# Example: Restrict log file permissions on Linux systems
chmod 640 /var/log/maximo/*.log
chown root:adm /var/log/maximo/*.log

# Example: Configure rsyslog to forward logs to centralized secure storage
echo '*.* @@secure-syslog-server:514' >> /etc/rsyslog.d/maximo-forward.conf
systemctl restart rsyslog