CVE-2025-1823: IBM Jazz Reporting Service DoS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-1823 Overview

IBM Jazz Reporting Service contains a denial of service vulnerability that allows an authenticated user on the host network to craft malicious SQL queries that consume excessive memory resources. This vulnerability falls under CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling), enabling attackers to degrade service availability through resource exhaustion attacks.

Critical Impact

Authenticated attackers with adjacent network access can trigger memory exhaustion through specially crafted SQL queries, potentially causing service disruption and affecting business continuity for organizations relying on Jazz Reporting Service.

Affected Products

• IBM Jazz Reporting Service (specific versions not disclosed in advisory)

Discovery Timeline

• February 4, 2026 - CVE-2025-1823 published to NVD
• February 5, 2026 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-1823

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability stems from insufficient resource allocation controls in the IBM Jazz Reporting Service's SQL query processing mechanism. When processing SQL queries, the service fails to implement proper limits on memory consumption, allowing authenticated users to submit queries specifically designed to consume excessive memory resources.

The attack requires the adversary to have valid authentication credentials and access to the adjacent network where the Jazz Reporting Service is hosted. While the attack complexity is low and requires no user interaction, the impact is limited to service availability (denial of service) without affecting data confidentiality or integrity.

Root Cause

The root cause is CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling. The Jazz Reporting Service does not adequately restrict memory allocation when processing SQL queries, permitting malformed or resource-intensive queries to allocate unbounded memory. This design flaw allows authenticated users to craft queries that trigger excessive memory consumption, eventually exhausting available system resources.

Attack Vector

The attack is executed from an adjacent network position, requiring the attacker to be on the same network segment as the Jazz Reporting Service host. An authenticated user can submit specially crafted SQL queries through the reporting interface that exploit the lack of memory allocation limits.

The exploitation mechanism involves constructing SQL queries designed to maximize memory allocation during processing. These queries may include complex joins, nested subqueries, or operations that generate large intermediate result sets, all of which consume memory without proper bounds checking by the service.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-1823

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual memory consumption spikes on systems hosting IBM Jazz Reporting Service
• Repeated authentication events followed by complex SQL query submissions from the same user
• Service degradation or crashes correlating with specific query patterns
• Log entries indicating memory allocation failures or out-of-memory conditions

Detection Strategies

• Monitor memory usage metrics on Jazz Reporting Service hosts for abnormal consumption patterns
• Implement SQL query logging and analyze for unusually complex or resource-intensive queries
• Configure alerts for memory utilization thresholds that may indicate exploitation attempts
• Review authentication logs for suspicious access patterns from adjacent network segments

Monitoring Recommendations

• Deploy application performance monitoring (APM) to track query execution times and resource usage
• Establish baseline memory consumption patterns for the Jazz Reporting Service under normal operations
• Configure SIEM rules to correlate authentication events with subsequent memory exhaustion indicators
• Monitor network traffic from adjacent segments for unusual query volumes or patterns

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-1823

Immediate Actions Required

• Review and restrict user access to the Jazz Reporting Service to only essential personnel
• Implement network segmentation to limit adjacent network access to the service
• Apply any available patches or updates from IBM addressing this vulnerability
• Monitor service memory consumption and configure automatic service restart policies

Patch Information

IBM has published a security advisory addressing this vulnerability. Administrators should consult the IBM Support Document for detailed patch information, affected version specifics, and upgrade guidance. It is recommended to apply the vendor-provided fix as soon as possible to address the underlying resource allocation issue.

Workarounds

• Implement query complexity limits at the database or application layer if supported
• Configure operating system-level memory limits for the Jazz Reporting Service process using cgroups or similar mechanisms
• Restrict network access to the Jazz Reporting Service to only trusted network segments
• Review and minimize user permissions to reduce the attack surface for authenticated exploits

# Example: Limit process memory using systemd (adjust values as appropriate)
# Edit the Jazz Reporting Service systemd unit file and add:
# MemoryMax=4G
# MemoryHigh=3G
# This helps contain memory exhaustion attacks at the OS level