Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2021 - Vulnerable and Outdated Components
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Unnecessary privilege execution
|
| Impact | The CVSS 3.1 score of 7.8 reflects significant real-world risk: AV:L (local only, reducing exposure) but AC:L (low complexity attack), PR:L (low privilege requirement), with complete impact across Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (C:H/I:H/A:H). This indicates that any authenticated user on the system can become root. The local attack vector naturally limits widespread exploitation compared to network-based flaws, but in containerized environments where multiple services or tenants may coexist, this becomes more practical. Without confirmed KEV/CISA status or EPSS data in the provided information, the moderate attack complexity combined with privilege requirement suggests this requires some attacker sophistication but remains highly exploitable by insiders or users with initial container access. The severity justifies prioritization for organizations running these versions, particularly in multi-tenant or security-sensitive environments. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A threat actor gains initial local access to a Kubernetes node or container host running IBM Security Verify Directory Container 10.0.2.1 (perhaps as a low-privileged service account or through a separate container breakout). Due to AC:L (low complexity), they can exploit the unnecessary root privilege execution without complex techniques—potentially through environment variable manipulation, file descriptor inheritance, or simple system calls that succeed only when run as root. Within seconds, they escalate to full root access on the container, enabling data exfiltration of identity directory contents (user credentials, access tokens), modification of authentication policies to create backdoor accounts, or denial of service by terminating critical processes. In a Kubernetes environment, a compromised directory container could propagate lateral movement across the cluster if RBAC is misconfigured. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Mar 14, 2026
IBM Security Verify Directory Container versions 10.0.0.0 through 10.0.3.1 contain a privilege escalation vulnerability allowing local users to execute arbitrary commands as root. The vulnerability stems from the application running with unnecessary elevated privileges, enabling authenticated local attackers to escalate permissions without user interaction. This is a high-severity local privilege escalation affecting containerized deployments of IBM's identity and access management solution.
RemediationAI
Immediate remediation requires upgrading to IBM Security Verify Directory Container version 10.0.4.0 or later. Organizations should: (1) Apply the latest security patch from IBM Security Advisories; (2) Implement container security context restrictions (set non-root user in Dockerfile/pod security policy, use read-only root filesystem where possible); (3) Apply pod security policies in Kubernetes deployments to prevent privileged container execution; (4) Limit local access via role-based access control and authentication hardening; (5) Run the container with explicit non-root user definitions (USER directive in container image). As an interim mitigation while patching, restrict container privileges using Docker/Kubernetes security contexts (securityContext.runAsNonRoot=true, drop ALL capabilities). Consult IBM's official security bulletin for the specific patch version number and deployment guidance.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability (CWE-250: Execution with Unnecessary Privileges) occurs in IBM Security Verify Directory Container, a containerized identity directory service component. The root cause is architectural: the application process runs with root-level privileges by default rather than using principle-of-least-privilege containerization patterns. In container environments, this is particularly dangerous as the entire container runtime gains root context. A local user with any level of access (PR:L in CVSS) can exploit improper privilege handling to break out of intended security boundaries. The CWE-250 classification indicates the developers failed to implement proper privilege separation or privilege dropping mechanisms common in Unix/Linux security practices.
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionCVE.org
IBM Security Verify Directory Container 10.0.0.0 through 10.0.3.1 could allow a local user to execute commands as root due to execution with unnecessary privileges.
Executive ViewAI
IBM Security Verify Directory Container versions 10.0.0.0 through 10.0.3.1 contain a privilege escalation vulnerability that could allow local users to execute commands with root-level access. Organizations using affected versions face risk of complete system compromise and unauthorized access to identity and authentication infrastructure, which could cascade to breach of downstream applications and services.
Restrict local user access to affected container instances through host-level access controls; run containers with non-root user enforcement and dropped Linux capabilities (CAP_SYS_ADMIN, CAP_SYS_PTRACE); implement strict SELinux or AppArmor policies; disable unnecessary features and services within the container; monitor container execution for privilege escalation attempts; consider air-gapping affected systems pending patch availability.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker leverages flaws in access control mechanisms to gain permissions beyond what they were originally granted.
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EUVD-2025-18339
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub PoC
Exploit-DB