CVE-2025-36418
Published: 20 January 2026
Summary
CVE-2025-36418 is a high-severity Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature (CWE-347) vulnerability in Ibm Applinx. Its CVSS base score is 7.3 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 7.8th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Likely Mitigating ControlsAI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Requires verification of digital signatures using organization-approved certificates before installation, directly preventing improper verification of cryptographic signatures.
Component authenticity commonly depends on cryptographic signatures; the control enforces proper verification of those signatures.
PKI certificates under an approved policy require cryptographic signature verification on issuance and validation.
Requires cryptographic signatures on authoritative data and support for verifying the chain of trust.
Mandates verification of cryptographic signatures (e.g., DNSSEC RRSIG) on resolution responses, addressing missing or bypassed signature checks.
Integrity tools commonly rely on cryptographic signatures whose improper validation this weakness covers.
Authenticity validation commonly relies on cryptographic signature or certificate checks that this control enforces.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Direct JWT forgery enables privilege escalation via impersonation (T1068) and forging of web credentials (T1606).
NVD Description
IBM ApplinX 11.1 is vulnerable due to a privilege escalation vulnerability due to improper verification of JWT tokens. An attacker may be able to craft or modify a JSON web token in order to impersonate another user or to elevate…
more
their privileges.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2025-36418 is a privilege escalation vulnerability in IBM ApplinX 11.1 caused by improper verification of JSON Web Tokens (JWTs). This flaw, linked to CWE-347 (Invalid or Incorrect Use of Primary Channel), enables attackers to craft or modify JWTs for unauthorized access. The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.3 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L), indicating high severity due to its network accessibility and low exploitation barriers.
An unauthenticated attacker with network access can exploit this vulnerability with low complexity and no user interaction required. Successful exploitation allows the attacker to impersonate another user or elevate their privileges, potentially leading to low-level impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
IBM has issued a security advisory detailing the issue at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7257446, which provides guidance on mitigation and patching.
Details
- CWE(s)