Security Resilience

CVE-2023-37398

Ibm Aspera Faspex 5.0.0 – 5.0.10

Published
29 January 2025
Modified
05 March 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.9
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0033 24th percentile
Risk Priority 45 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-37398 is a medium-severity Weak Password Requirements (CWE-521) vulnerability in Ibm Aspera Faspex. Its CVSS base score is 5.9 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Brute Force (T1110); ranked at the 24th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to IA-5 (Authenticator Management) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2023-37398 is a vulnerability in IBM Aspera Faspex versions 5.0.0 through 5.0.10, where the software does not enforce strong passwords by default. This weakness, classified under CWE-521 (Weak Password Requirements), enables attackers to more readily compromise user accounts through password guessing or brute-force attempts. The issue carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.9 (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N), reflecting network accessibility with high attack complexity but significant confidentiality impact.

Remote attackers require no privileges or user interaction to exploit this vulnerability over the network. The high attack complexity arises from the need to perform repeated authentication attempts against accounts protected only by weak or default passwords. Successful exploitation allows attackers to gain unauthorized access to compromised user accounts, potentially exposing sensitive data transferred via the Faspex platform.

IBM has published an advisory detailing mitigation steps at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7181814, which security practitioners should consult for patching and configuration recommendations to enforce stronger password policies.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A07:2025 Authentication Failures

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

IBM Aspera Faspex 5.0.0 through 5.0.10 does not require that users should have strong passwords by default, which makes it easier for attackers to compromise user accounts.

CWE(s)
CWE-521

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1110 Brute Force Credential Access
Adversaries may use brute force techniques to gain access to accounts when passwords are unknown or when password hashes are obtained.
attack.mitre.org →
T1110.001 Password Guessing Credential Access
Adversaries with no prior knowledge of legitimate credentials within the system or environment may guess passwords to attempt access to accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1110.002 Password Cracking Credential Access
Adversaries may use password cracking to attempt to recover usable credentials, such as plaintext passwords, when credential material such as password hashes are obtained.
attack.mitre.org →
T1110.003 Password Spraying Credential Access
Adversaries may use a single or small list of commonly used passwords against many different accounts to attempt to acquire valid account credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001.002 Steganography Command And Control
Adversaries may use steganographic techniques to hide command and control traffic to make detection efforts more difficult.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.001 LSASS Memory Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credential material stored in the process memory of the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS).
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-35907Same product: Ibm Aspera Faspex
CVE-2023-37413Same product: Ibm Aspera Faspex
CVE-2025-36230Same product: Ibm Aspera Faspex
CVE-2024-22355Same vendor: Ibm
CVE-2024-41778Same vendor: Ibm
CVE-2023-37411Same product: Ibm Aspera Faspex
CVE-2024-22330Same vendor: Ibm
CVE-2024-45098Same product: Ibm Aspera Faspex
CVE-2023-37412Same product: Ibm Aspera Faspex
CVE-2024-45096Same product: Ibm Aspera Faspex

Affected Assets

ibm
aspera faspex
5.0.0 — 5.0.10

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 2 hardening rules · 1 OS baseline
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V6.2.4
  • V6.2.12
  • V6.4.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

IA-5 Authenticator Management good match

IA-5 directly requires organizations to enforce strength, complexity, and change rules for passwords and other authenticators at issuance and reset.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.AA-03 partial match
blocks

Explicitly requires enforcing minimum password strength as part of authentication.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
blocks

Enforcing minimum length, complexity, non-dictionary, and non-reuse rules directly counters weak password policies that allow attackers to guess or brute-force credentials.

A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.8.10 Information deletion partial match
removes

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

RHEL 7 (2 rules)
  • V-204424 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not allow accounts configured with blank or null passwords. blocks CWE-521
  • V-204425 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that the SSH daemon does not allow authentication using an empty password. blocks CWE-521

References