CVE-2025-12531
Published: 03 November 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-12531 is a high-severity Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference (CWE-611) vulnerability in Ibm Infosphere Information Server. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 26.3th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 CM-6 (Configuration Settings) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
Directly prevents XXE attacks by requiring validation of XML inputs to block external entity processing and malicious payloads.
Mitigates XXE by enforcing secure configuration settings on XML parsers to disable external entities and DTD processing.
Addresses this specific CVE by requiring timely flaw remediation through application of IBM patches for the XXE vulnerability.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
T1190 for exploiting the network-accessible XXE vulnerability in server software; T1005 for XXE-enabled sensitive file disclosure; T1499.004 for memory exhaustion DoS via entity expansion.
NVD Description
IBM InfoSphere Information Server 11.7.0.0 through 11.7.1.6 is vulnerable to an XML external entity injection (XXE) attack when processing XML data. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to expose sensitive information or consume memory resources.
Deeper analysisAI
IBM InfoSphere Information Server versions 11.7.0.0 through 11.7.1.6 are vulnerable to CVE-2025-12531, an XML external entity (XXE) injection flaw (CWE-611) that occurs when processing XML data. Published on 2025-11-03, this vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.1 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H), indicating network accessibility with low attack complexity.
A remote attacker with low privileges (PR:L) can exploit this vulnerability without user interaction, achieving low-impact confidentiality loss by exposing sensitive information or high-impact availability disruption through memory resource exhaustion.
IBM provides further details, including mitigation guidance, in their security advisory at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7249881.
Details
- CWE(s)