CVE-2026-11937 Overview
CVE-2026-11937 is a denial of service vulnerability affecting IBM Security Verify Access and IBM Verify Identity Access products. The flaw resides in the Reverse Proxy component under certain configurations. A remote authenticated attacker with low privileges can trigger the condition to cause service disruption. The vulnerability is classified as a use-after-free issue [CWE-416], which impacts availability without compromising confidentiality or integrity.
Critical Impact
Successful exploitation causes availability loss in the Reverse Proxy component, disrupting authentication and access management services that depend on IBM Verify Access for identity brokering.
Affected Products
- IBM Security Verify Access 10.0 through 10.0.9.2
- IBM Verify Identity Access 11.0 through 11.0.3 (including Container editions)
- IBM Security Verify Access Container 10.0 through 10.0.9.2
Discovery Timeline
- 2026-08-12 - CVE CVE-2026-11937 published to NVD
- 2026-08-12 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2026-11937
Vulnerability Analysis
The vulnerability affects the Reverse Proxy component of IBM Security Verify Access and IBM Verify Identity Access. The Reverse Proxy acts as a policy enforcement point, brokering authentication and authorization decisions for protected web resources. When the proxy runs under specific configurations, it becomes susceptible to a denial of service condition rooted in memory management errors.
The root weakness maps to CWE-416 (Use After Free). This class of flaw occurs when a program continues to reference memory after it has been released, leading to unpredictable behavior or process termination. In this case, exploitation results in service unavailability rather than code execution or data disclosure.
Root Cause
The underlying defect is a use-after-free condition within the Reverse Proxy request handling logic. A freed memory region is accessed during subsequent processing, causing the process to crash or become unresponsive. IBM has not published the specific vulnerable code path or trigger sequence in the public advisory.
Attack Vector
The attack vector is network-based, requiring low-level privileges and no user interaction. Attack complexity is high, meaning the attacker must satisfy specific configuration conditions or timing requirements to reliably trigger the flaw. Successful exploitation degrades the availability of the Reverse Proxy service while leaving confidentiality and integrity intact.
Refer to the IBM Support Page for technical details on the affected configurations.
Detection Methods for CVE-2026-11937
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected crashes, restarts, or hangs of the IBM Verify Access Reverse Proxy process.
- Gaps in Reverse Proxy access logs correlating with abnormal client request patterns.
- Repeated authentication failures downstream caused by proxy unavailability.
Detection Strategies
- Monitor process health metrics for the Reverse Proxy service and alert on abnormal termination events.
- Correlate low-privilege authenticated sessions with subsequent service degradation events.
- Review request patterns for anomalous or malformed traffic preceding service instability.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Ingest Reverse Proxy logs and system service events into a centralized SIEM for correlation.
- Configure availability probes against the Reverse Proxy endpoints to detect outages promptly.
- Track authenticated session activity to identify low-privilege accounts generating unusual request volumes.
How to Mitigate CVE-2026-11937
Immediate Actions Required
- Inventory all IBM Security Verify Access and IBM Verify Identity Access deployments, including container editions.
- Identify systems running versions within the vulnerable ranges (10.0 through 10.0.9.2 and 11.0 through 11.0.3).
- Apply vendor-supplied fixes as referenced in the IBM advisory to all affected instances.
Patch Information
IBM has published remediation guidance on the IBM Support Page. Administrators should review the advisory and upgrade to the fixed release specified by IBM. Container deployments require pulling and redeploying the patched image versions.
Workarounds
- Review Reverse Proxy configurations against IBM guidance to determine whether the vulnerable configuration is present.
- Restrict network access to the Reverse Proxy management interfaces to trusted administrative networks.
- Enforce strict authentication and rate limiting on Reverse Proxy endpoints to reduce exposure to low-privilege abuse.
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
