CVE-2025-36087: IBM Security Verify Access Vulnerability

CVE-2025-36087 Overview

CVE-2025-36087 is a critical hardcoded credentials vulnerability affecting IBM Security Verify Access and IBM Verify Identity Access Container. Under certain configurations, these products contain hard-coded credentials—such as passwords or cryptographic keys—which are used for inbound authentication, outbound communication to external components, or encryption of internal data. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to potentially compromise authentication mechanisms without requiring any user interaction or prior privileges.

Critical Impact

Attackers exploiting this vulnerability could gain unauthorized access to the affected identity and access management systems, potentially compromising enterprise authentication infrastructure and sensitive identity data.

Affected Products

• IBM Security Verify Access versions 10.0.0 through 10.0.9
• IBM Security Verify Access version 11.0.0
• IBM Verify Identity Access Container versions 10.0.0 through 10.0.9
• IBM Verify Identity Access Container version 11.0.0

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-10-13 - CVE-2025-36087 published to NVD
• 2025-10-20 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-36087

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-798 (Use of Hard-coded Credentials), representing a fundamental security design flaw in IBM Security Verify Access and IBM Verify Identity Access Container. The presence of embedded credentials within the application code or configuration creates a static attack surface that cannot be mitigated through standard password rotation practices.

The hard-coded credentials may be leveraged for multiple purposes within the affected systems: authenticating inbound connections, establishing outbound connections to external components, or encrypting sensitive internal data. Each of these use cases presents distinct risk scenarios for organizations relying on these identity management solutions.

Root Cause

The root cause stems from the inclusion of static credentials directly within the application's codebase or default configuration files. This practice violates secure development principles that mandate dynamic credential generation and secure credential management through external vaults or key management systems. When credentials are hard-coded, they become accessible to anyone with access to the software binary, decompilation capabilities, or knowledge of the default values.

Attack Vector

The vulnerability is exploitable remotely over the network without requiring authentication or user interaction. An attacker who discovers or extracts the hard-coded credentials can potentially:

• Authenticate to the IBM Security Verify Access system as a privileged user or service
• Intercept or manipulate communications between the identity management system and external components
• Decrypt sensitive identity data protected by the hard-coded cryptographic key

The attack does not require any special privileges or user interaction, making it particularly dangerous in internet-facing deployments. Attackers may discover these credentials through reverse engineering of the application, analysis of network traffic, or review of public documentation and default configuration files.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-36087

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected authentication attempts using service accounts associated with IBM Security Verify Access
• Anomalous API calls or administrative actions from unrecognized source IP addresses
• Unusual outbound connections from the identity management infrastructure to unknown external endpoints
• Authentication logs showing successful logins outside normal operational patterns

Detection Strategies

• Monitor authentication logs for IBM Security Verify Access components for suspicious login patterns
• Implement network traffic analysis to detect unusual communication patterns to or from identity management systems
• Deploy integrity monitoring on IBM Security Verify Access configuration files and binaries
• Review access logs for administrative functions performed outside maintenance windows

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable comprehensive audit logging for all authentication events within IBM Security Verify Access
• Configure SIEM alerts for multiple failed authentication attempts followed by a successful login
• Monitor for any access to identity management APIs from non-standard administrative workstations
• Track changes to credential stores and cryptographic key material

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-36087

Immediate Actions Required

• Review the IBM Support Article for specific remediation guidance
• Assess your deployment configuration to determine if your environment is affected by the specific conditions enabling exploitation
• Implement network segmentation to limit access to IBM Security Verify Access components
• Enable enhanced monitoring and logging for all identity management infrastructure

Patch Information

IBM has published a security bulletin addressing this vulnerability. Organizations should review the IBM Support Article for specific patch information, affected version details, and upgrade instructions. Applying the vendor-provided patches is the recommended remediation approach to eliminate the hard-coded credentials from the affected systems.

Workarounds

• Restrict network access to IBM Security Verify Access administrative interfaces using firewall rules
• Implement additional layers of authentication (such as VPN or jump hosts) for accessing identity management systems
• Deploy network monitoring to detect and alert on unauthorized access attempts to identity infrastructure
• Consider temporary isolation of affected systems until patches can be applied if immediate patching is not feasible

# Example: Restrict access to IBM Security Verify Access admin interface
# Add firewall rules to limit access to trusted management networks only
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -s <trusted_management_network>/24 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -j DROP