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IBM MQ CVE-2026-12155

| EUVDEUVD-2026-104469 MEDIUM
Deserialization of Untrusted Data (CWE-502)
2026-10-19 ibm GHSA-r44r-j5xw-wgw7
6.5
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: ibm
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Authenticate with low-privilege MQ credentials
  2. Delivery
    Craft malformed multicast status message
  3. Exploit
    Send to multicast-enabled MQ listener
  4. Execution
    Trigger NULL pointer dereference
  5. Impact
    Crash process, denying service

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A08:2025 - Software or Data Integrity Failures
ASVS 5.0
V1 - Encoding and Sanitization Safe deserialization, type allowlists
MITRE ATT&CK

2 techniques across 2 tactics: Execution, Initial Access

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires valid authenticated access to IBM MQ (CVSS PR:L) and, per the description, the ability to send multicast status messages - which in practice means the target MQ deployment (MQ Operator / MQ Advanced container images) must have multicast messaging configured and enabled, a non-default feature not used in most standard queue-manager deployments. The limiting factors are therefore twofold: the attacker must possess legitimate MQ credentials, and the instance must have multicast publish/subscribe enabled; environments not using multicast are not exposed. Impact is confined to availability (process crash / denial of service) with no confidentiality or integrity effect.

Impact

This is a moderate-severity, availability-only denial-of-service issue (CVSS 6.5, A:H with C:N/I:N) rather than a top-priority emergency. The CVSS vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H indicates a network-reachable attack with low complexity but requiring low-level privileges (PR:L), so the attacker must already be an authenticated MQ user - this materially limits the exposed population versus an unauthenticated flaw. No EPSS score was provided, the CVE is not listed in CISA KEV, and no public proof-of-concept was supplied, so there is no public exploit identified at time of analysis and no evidence of active exploitation. One notable conflict exists in the source data: the CWE is listed as CWE-502 (Deserialization of Untrusted Data) and a 'Deserialization' tag is present, yet the description explicitly states the root cause is a NULL pointer dereference (which maps to CWE-476) triggered by crafted multicast status messages - these are different weakness classes and the discrepancy should be verified against the IBM advisory. Net assessment: a credible but lower-tier DoS requiring authenticated access and, almost certainly, a non-default multicast configuration; patch during normal cycles, prioritizing MQ instances that use multicast messaging and expose it to lower-trust authenticated principals.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker who already holds valid (low-privilege) IBM MQ credentials sends specially crafted multicast status messages to an MQ instance that has multicast messaging enabled, triggering a NULL pointer dereference that crashes the affected process and denies service to legitimate applications. No public exploit code is known, and the low attack complexity (AC:L) means a working request would be simple to reproduce once the malformed message format is understood. Confidentiality and integrity are unaffected - the impact is service disruption only.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
Patch available 0.3% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Oct 19, 2026

Authenticated denial of service in IBM MQ container deployments - specifically the MQ Operator and MQ Advanced container images - lets a remote user who already holds valid MQ credentials crash the queue manager by sending specially crafted multicast status messages that drive the process into a NULL pointer dereference. Impact is availability-only (CVSS 6.5, A:H with C:N/I:N); confidentiality and integrity are unaffected. Exploitation is further constrained because the target deployment must have multicast messaging configured and enabled, a non-default capability absent from most standard queue-manager installations, and no public exploit has been identified at time of analysis.

RemediationAI

Vendor patch status is 'available' but no exact fix version is exposed in the supplied data, so treat this as patch available per vendor advisory: consult IBM's security bulletin at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7292667 to identify the corrected MQ Operator release and MQ Advanced container image tag, then upgrade the operator and roll the queue-manager pods onto the fixed image (rolling restart causes brief availability interruption per pod). If the update cannot be applied immediately, the most effective compensating control is to disable multicast messaging entirely - remove or do not enable multicast-enabled publish/subscribe on channels and topics - which closes the vulnerable code path; the trade-off is that any multicast pub/sub topology must be reconfigured to unicast, which increases message fan-out overhead and administrative effort. As a secondary measure, restrict network reachability to MQ listener ports to known client hosts and audit MQ credentials so that PR:L access is not broadly granted, since the attack still requires a valid authenticated identity; neither control addresses the underlying deserialization defect, so scheduling the vendor fix remains required.

Affected VersionsENISA

MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.20-r2
MQ Operator 3.3.0 <3.4.0
MQ Operator 2.0.0 ≤2.0.29
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.7-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.12-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.20-r1
MQ Operator 3.8.1
MQ Operator 4.0.4
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.6-r1 ≤r1, 9.4.0.6-r2, 9.4.0.7-r1, 9.4.0.10-r1, 9.4.0.10-r2, 9.4.0.11-r1, 9.4.0.11-r2, 9.4.0.11-r3, 9.4.0.12-r1, 9.4.0.15-r1 - 9.4.0.15-r4, 9.4.0.16-r1, 9.4.0.16-r2, 9.4.0.17-r1, 9.4.0.17-r2, 9.4.0.20-r1, 9.4.0.21-r1, 9.4.0.21-r2, 9.4.0.25-r1 - 9.4.0.25-r3, 9.4.0.26-r1CD: 9.4.1.0-r1, 9.4.1.0-r2, 9.4.1.1-r1, 9.4.2.0-r1, 9.4.2.0-r2, 9.4.2.1-r1, 9.4.2.1-r2, 9.4.3.0-r1, 9.4.3.0-r2, 9.4.3.1-r1 - 9.4.3.1-r3, 9.4.4.0-r1 - 9.4.4.0-r4, 9.4.4.1-r1, 9.4.5.0-r1, 9.4.5.0-r2, 9.4.5.1-r1, 10.0.0.0-r1 - 10.0.0.0-r4, 10.0.0.5-r1LTS: 9.3.0.0-r1, 9.3.0.0-r2, 9.3.0.0-r3, 9.3.0.1-r1, 9.3.0.1-r2, 9.3.0.1-r3, 9.3.0.1-r4, 9.3.0.3-r1, 9.3.0.4-r1, 9.3.0.4-r2, 9.3.0.5-r1, 9.3.0.5-r2, 9.3.0.5-r3, 9.3.0.6-r1, 9.3.0.10-r1, 9.3.0.10-r2, 9.3.0.11-r1,9.3.0.11-r2, 9.3.0.15-r1, 9.3.0.16-r1, 9.3.0.16-r2, 9.3.0.17-r1, 9.3.0.17-r2, 9.3.0.17-r3, 9.3.0.20-r1, 9.3.0.20-r2, 9.3.0.21-r1, 9.3.0.21-r2, 9.3.0.21-r3, 9.3.0.25-r1, 9.4.0.0-r1, 9.4.0.0-r2, 9.4.0.0-r3, 9.4.0.5-r1, 9.4.0.5-r2
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.17-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.1-r4
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.21-r2
MQ Advanced container images 10.0.0.5-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.5.0-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.5-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.4.1-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.26-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.5-r2
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.2.1-r1
MQ Operator 4.0.3
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.16-r2
MQ Operator 4.0.2
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.0-r2
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.3.0-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.16-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.0-r2
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.10-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.17-r2
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.0-r3
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.1.0-r1
MQ Operator 3.5.1 ≤3.5.3
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.5.0-r2
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.11-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.0-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.16-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.21-r1
MQ Operator 3.7.0 ≤3.7.2
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.1-r3
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.11-r3
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.20-r1
MQ Advanced container images 10.0.0.0-r1 ≤10.0.0.0-r4
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.4.0-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.3.1-r1 ≤9.4.3.1-r3
MQ Operator 3.9.2
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.21-r2
MQ Operator 3.6.0 ≤3.6.4
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.2.0-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.16-r2
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.11-r2
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.11-r2
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.3.0-r2
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.5-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.6-r2
MQ Operator 4.0.0
MQ Operator 3.2.0 ≤3.2.29
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.5-r2
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.25-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.0-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.10-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.1.1-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.4-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.1-r1
MQ Operator 3.5.0
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.17-r2
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.10-r2
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.25-r1 ≤9.4.0.25-r3
MQ Operator 3.9.0
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.1-r2
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.3-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.6-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.17-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.11-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.0-r3
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.21-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.5-r3
MQ Operator 3.9.1
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.1.0-r2
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.17-r3
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.2.0-r2
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.5.1-r1
MQ Operator 3.4.1
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.0.15-r1 ≤9.4.0.15-r4
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.4-r2
MQ Operator 3.8.0
MQ Operator 4.0.1
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.15-r1
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.10-r2
MQ Advanced container images 9.4.2.1-r2
MQ Advanced container images 9.3.0.21-r3

Affected Packages

euvd mq_advanced_container_images no fix
euvd mq_operator fix: 3.4.0

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 2 packages in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

The flaw sits in IBM MQ's handling of multicast status messages, the control-plane traffic queue managers exchange when reliable multicast publish/subscribe is enabled between MQ nodes. The assigned CWE-502 (Deserialization of Untrusted Data) and the accompanying 'Deserialization' tag indicate that an inbound status message is decoded and materialized into an internal object without sufficient validation of its structure, so a crafted message yields an object with a missing or unpopulated reference; the subsequent dereference of that NULL pointer terminates the queue manager process. The description frames the observable failure as a NULL pointer dereference, while the CWE classifies the underlying root cause as unsafe deserialization - both point to the same trust-boundary problem: multicast status frames from a credentialed peer are treated as well-formed. Because the CVSS vector is PR:L, the attacker must already authenticate to MQ; because multicast pub/sub is an optional, non-default feature, only deployments that have deliberately enabled it expose the vulnerable code path. The CPE entries confirm the affected packaging is the containerized/operator delivery (ibm:mq_operator and ibm:mq_advanced_container_images) rather than classic on-premise MQ installations, though the provided CPE strings are wildcarded and do not pin specific versions.

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Severity by source

Vendor (ibm) PRIMARY 6.5 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
vuln.today AI 6.5 MEDIUM

Network-delivered multicast message (AV:N, AC:L) sent by an authenticated MQ user (PR:L) with no user interaction; crash yields availability-only impact (A:H), no C/I impact, unchanged scope.

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (ibm).

CVSS VectorVendor: ibm

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

DescriptionCVE.org

IBM MQ could allow an authenticated attacker to cause a denial of service by sending specially crafted multicast status messages that trigger a NULL pointer dereference.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.3%
Top 84% exploitable
Prevalence
High
IBM MQ is widely deployed enterprise messaging middleware across large organizations
Social Media
1
Sightings
Data Quality
4 sources
Confidence: Medium

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.

SignalValue
Severity MEDIUM
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.3%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable
No
Human Impact· derived
High
Technical Impact
Partial

Priority Score

32
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +32
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Insecure deserialization occurs when an application converts serialized data (a stream of bytes representing an object's state) back into a living object without proper validation.

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

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