CVE-2025-36096
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 7.2, and 7.3 and IBM VIOS 3.1, and 4.1 stores NIM private keys used in NIM environments in an insecure way which is susceptible to unauthorized access by an attacker using man in the middle techniques.
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 confidenceIBM AIX 7.2/7.3 and VIOS 3.1/4.1 store NIM (Network Installation Manager) private keys with insufficient access controls, allowing local or man-in-the-middle attackers to obtain sensitive cryptographic keys used for NIM operations.
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= 3.1.0= 4.1.0= 7.2= 7.3CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/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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Identify the operating systemRun 'oslevel' on AIX or 'ioslevel' on VIOS to determine the exact OS versionAffected if The version is exactly 7.2 or 7.3 for AIX, or exactly 3.1.0 or 4.1.0 for VIOS
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Verify NIM is installed and configuredRun 'lsnim' or 'lsnim -l' to list NIM objects and confirm NIM is operational on the systemAffected if NIM is configured and operational on the affected AIX or VIOS version
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Locate NIM private key filesRun 'ls -la /etc/nim/*key*' or use 'nim -o show_debug' to find the NIM private key file locations; typical location is /etc/nim/Affected if NIM private key files exist in the /etc/nim/ directory
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Check file permissions on NIM private keysRun 'ls -la /etc/nim/*key*' or 'ls -la /etc/nim/.ssh/*' to examine the permissions on private key filesAffected if Permissions are world-readable (644 or higher) or group-readable allowing non-admin users to read the keys
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Verify ownership of key filesRun 'ls -la' on the NIM key files and confirm if ownership is set to root or a privileged NIM administrator accountAffected if Ownership allows access by non-privileged users or the files are owned by a non-admin user
The system is affected if it runs AIX 7.2/7.3 or VIOS 3.1/4.1 with NIM configured and the NIM private key files have overly permissive access controls readable by non-admin users.
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 dataRestrict file permissions on NIM private key files to authorized administrators only, and rotate compromised keys using NIM key management utilities.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-36096 — 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-2025-36096 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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