Db2Application · Ibm

CVE-2025-1992

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-05-05
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 11.5.9 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
IBM Db2 for Linux, UNIX and Windows (includes DB2 Connect Server) 11.5.0 through 11.5.9 and 12.1.0 through 12.1.1 could allow an authenticated user in federation environment, to cause a denial of service due to insufficient release of allocated memory after usage.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

IBM Db2 versions 11.5.0-11.5.9 and 12.1.0-12.1.1 contain a memory leak in the federation component. An authenticated user in a federation environment can repeatedly trigger the leak by executing queries through federated tables, causing memory to accumulate without proper deallocation, eventually leading to denial of service.

MitigationApply IBM's official patches for this vulnerability. In the interim, restrict federation access to only trusted authenticated users and monitor Db2 memory consumption for anomalies.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Db2Application
Affected:>= 11.5.0, <= 11.5.9= 12.1.0= 12.1.1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check installed Db2 version
    Run 'db2level' or query 'select * from sysibmadm.env_inst_info' to obtain the installed version and fix pack level.
    Affected if The version is 11.5.0 through 11.5.9, or exactly 12.1.0 or 12.1.1.
  2. Verify federation feature is enabled
    Run 'db2set -all' and look for DB2_FEDERATION in the output, or check the database manager configuration with 'db2 get dbm cfg' for federation-related parameters.
    Affected if DB2_FEDERATION is set to YES or federation is otherwise active in the Db2 instance.
  3. Identify federated tables in the database
    Query the catalog: 'select tabname, tabschema from syscat.tables where type = 'N'' for nicknames, or check SYSCAT.SERVERS for federated data sources.
    Affected if Any nicknames or federated data sources exist in the database.
  4. Monitor federation-related memory consumption
    Use 'db2pd -db <dbname> -mempool' to examine memory pool usage, focusing on the db2fmp process or federation-related memory heaps.
    Affected if Memory pools show continuous growth or abnormally high memory usage that does not release after query completion.
  5. Check for active federation queries
    Run 'db2 list applications' or 'db2 get snapshot for dynamic sql' to identify queries hitting federated tables (nicknames).
    Affected if Queries against federated tables are executing and memory consumption is increasing over time.

You are affected if your Db2 version falls within 11.5.0-11.5.9 or 12.1.0-12.1.1 AND federation is enabled with federated objects in use, and you observe unusual memory growth during federation query execution.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 11.5.9
Interim mitigation

Apply IBM's official patches for this vulnerability. In the interim, restrict federation access to only trusted authenticated users and monitor Db2 memory consumption for anomalies.

Fix this in Db2 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-1992 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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