CVE-2025-33112
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 · uneditedIBM AIX 7.3 and IBM VIOS 4.1.1 Perl implementation could allow a non-privileged local user to exploit a vulnerability to execute arbitrary code due to improper neutralization of pathname input.
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 · high confidenceA path traversal vulnerability in the Perl implementation on IBM AIX 7.3 and IBM VIOS 4.1.1 allows local non-privileged users to execute arbitrary code via improper neutralization of pathname input, likely through manipulation of @INC or Perl library loading paths.
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= 4.1.1= 7.3.3CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm your AIX or VIOS versionRun 'oslevel -s' on AIX or 'ioslevel' on VIOS to identify the installed operating system versionAffected if The version is AIX 7.3.3 or VIOS 4.1.1 exactly as listed in affected versions
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Check if Perl is installedRun 'which perl' or 'lslpp -l | grep -i perl' to determine if the Perl interpreter is present on the systemAffected if Perl is installed and available for use
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Identify Perl versionRun 'perl -v' to obtain the installed Perl version numberAffected if Perl version is present and matches the vulnerable environment
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Audit Perl script file permissionsReview file permissions on Perl scripts in user-accessible directories using 'ls -la' commands, focusing on scripts that handle file path argumentsAffected if Users can modify or execute Perl scripts that process file path inputs without proper sanitization
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Monitor for suspicious path traversal patterns in Perl executionReview system logs and audit records for Perl invocations with path traversal sequences such as '../' in file path argumentsAffected if Logs show Perl executing with manipulated path arguments containing directory traversal sequences
Your environment is affected if you are running exactly AIX 7.3.3 or VIOS 4.1.1 with Perl installed, and users can execute Perl scripts that handle file paths without sanitization.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataApply IBM's security patches for AIX 7.3 TL5 SP6 and VIOS 4.1.1 SP2 to address the Perl path traversal vulnerability; restrict local file system access for non-privileged accounts as a compensating control until patching is complete.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing16.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $12,160.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-33112 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-33112 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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