CVE-2025-36140
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability in IBM watsonx.data allows authenticated users to cause denial of service by exhausting resources in ingestion pods due to improper resource allocation limits. It affects IBM watsonx.data versions 2.2 through 2.2.1. Only authenticated users can exploit this vulnerability.
💻 Affected Systems
- IBM watsonx.data
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete service disruption of watsonx.data ingestion functionality, potentially affecting data processing pipelines and business operations.
Likely Case
Degraded performance or temporary unavailability of ingestion pods, impacting data ingestion workflows.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact with proper resource limits and monitoring in place.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated access but is technically simple once access is obtained.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Apply fix from IBM Security Bulletin
Vendor Advisory: https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7253932
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Review IBM Security Bulletin. 2. Apply the recommended fix or upgrade to patched version. 3. Restart affected watsonx.data services. 4. Verify the fix is applied.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement Resource Limits
linuxConfigure Kubernetes resource limits for watsonx.data ingestion pods to prevent resource exhaustion.
kubectl set resources deployment/watsonx-data-ingestion --limits=cpu=2,memory=4Gi
Restrict User Permissions
allLimit authenticated user permissions to prevent unauthorized access to ingestion pod management functions.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict resource quotas and monitoring for watsonx.data ingestion pods
- Enforce least privilege access controls and audit user activities
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check IBM watsonx.data version: kubectl get deployment watsonx-data -o jsonpath='{.spec.template.spec.containers[0].image}'Check Version:
kubectl get deployment watsonx-data -o jsonpath='{.spec.template.spec.containers[0].image}' | grep -o '2\.[0-9]\.[0-9]'Verify Fix Applied:
Verify version is updated and monitor ingestion pod resource usage for abnormal patterns📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusually high resource consumption by ingestion pods
- Multiple failed ingestion attempts
- Pod restart events
Network Indicators:
- Increased API calls to ingestion endpoints
- Abnormal traffic patterns to watsonx.data services
SIEM Query:
source="watsonx-data" AND (resource_usage>90% OR pod_restarts>5)