Watsonx.data IntelligenceApplication · Ibm

CVE-2025-36336

MEDIUM · 5.9 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-06-30
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click 7 weeks old

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 watsonx.data intelligence 5.2.0, 5.2.1, 5.2.2, 5.3.0 transmits data in clear text that could allow an attacker to obtain sensitive information 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 confidence

IBM watsonx.data intelligence versions 5.2.0 through 5.3.0 transmits sensitive data in cleartext (unencrypted) over the network. This allows a man-in-the-middle attacker to intercept and read sensitive information by capturing network traffic between clients and the affected system.

MitigationEnable and enforce TLS/SSL encryption for all network communications within the watsonx.data intelligence deployment, and ensure proper certificate validation is configured.

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
Watsonx.data IntelligenceApplication
Affected:all versions

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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

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

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. Identify installed watsonx.data intelligence version
    Use the IBM installation or version command specific to your deployment, such as checking the product version through the IBM licensing or deployment documentation for your environment
    Affected if the installed version falls within 5.2.0 through 5.3.0 inclusive
  2. Verify TLS/SSL is enabled for client-server communications
    Inspect the network configuration settings or security settings within the watsonx.data intelligence administration console or configuration files to confirm encryption is enabled
    Affected if TLS/SSL encryption is not explicitly enabled or is disabled in the network communications settings
  3. Check for unencrypted protocol configurations
    Review the network listener or service configuration files for the presence of non-TLS enabled endpoints (such as HTTP instead of HTTPS, or non-SSL ports)
    Affected if any network endpoints are configured to use cleartext protocols without encryption
  4. Validate certificate validation settings
    Examine the security or TLS configuration to confirm proper certificate validation is configured and enforced for all client connections
    Affected if certificate validation is disabled, set to optional, or not properly configured

You are affected if your watsonx.data intelligence version is between 5.2.0 and 5.3.0 AND TLS/SSL encryption is not enabled or is configured to allow cleartext communications.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Enable and enforce TLS/SSL encryption for all network communications within the watsonx.data intelligence deployment, and ensure proper certificate validation is configured.

Fix this in Watsonx.data Intelligence Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-36336 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-36336 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data