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Security Bulletin: IBM Watson Speech Services Cartridge is vulnerable to multiple Operator package issues

Security Bulletin


Summary

IBM Watson Speech Services Cartridge is vulnerable to multiple Operator package issues. We have performed updates to the Operators used by our Speech Services. The following vulnerabilities have been addressed in this update. Please read the details for remediation below.

Vulnerability Details

CVEID:   CVE-2025-9230
DESCRIPTION:   Issue summary: An application trying to decrypt CMS messages encrypted using password based encryption can trigger an out-of-bounds read and write. Impact summary: This out-of-bounds read may trigger a crash which leads to Denial of Service for an application. The out-of-bounds write can cause a memory corruption which can have various consequences including a Denial of Service or Execution of attacker-supplied code. Although the consequences of a successful exploit of this vulnerability could be severe, the probability that the attacker would be able to perform it is low. Besides, password based (PWRI) encryption support in CMS messages is very rarely used. For that reason the issue was assessed as Moderate severity according to our Security Policy. The FIPS modules in 3.5, 3.4, 3.3, 3.2, 3.1 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue, as the CMS implementation is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
CWE:   CWE-125: Out-of-bounds Read
CVSS Source:   CISA ADP
CVSS Base score:   7.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2025-9231
DESCRIPTION:   Issue summary: A timing side-channel which could potentially allow remote recovery of the private key exists in the SM2 algorithm implementation on 64 bit ARM platforms. Impact summary: A timing side-channel in SM2 signature computations on 64 bit ARM platforms could allow recovering the private key by an attacker.. While remote key recovery over a network was not attempted by the reporter, timing measurements revealed a timing signal which may allow such an attack. OpenSSL does not directly support certificates with SM2 keys in TLS, and so this CVE is not relevant in most TLS contexts. However, given that it is possible to add support for such certificates via a custom provider, coupled with the fact that in such a custom provider context the private key may be recoverable via remote timing measurements, we consider this to be a Moderate severity issue. The FIPS modules in 3.5, 3.4, 3.3, 3.2, 3.1 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue, as SM2 is not an approved algorithm.
CWE:   CWE-385: Covert Timing Channel
CVSS Source:   CISA ADP
CVSS Base score:   6.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:L)

CVEID:   CVE-2024-56433
DESCRIPTION:   shadow-utils (aka shadow) 4.4 through 4.17.0 establishes a default /etc/subuid behavior (e.g., uid 100000 through 165535 for the first user account) that can realistically conflict with the uids of users defined on locally administered networks, potentially leading to account takeover, e.g., by leveraging newuidmap for access to an NFS home directory (or same-host resources in the case of remote logins by these local network users). NOTE: it may also be argued that system administrators should not have assigned uids, within local networks, that are within the range that can occur in /etc/subuid.
CWE:   CWE-1188: Initialization of a Resource with an Insecure Default
CVSS Source:   cve@mitre.org
CVSS Base score:   3.6
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N)

Affected Products and Versions

Affected Product(s)Version(s)
IBM Watson Speech Services Cartridge 4.0.0 - 5.2.2

 

Remediation/Fixes

Product(s)Version(s)Remediation/Fix/Instructions
IBM Watson Speech Services Cartridge5.3The fix in 5.3 applies to all versions listed (4.0.0-5.2.2). Version 5.3 can be downloaded and installed from: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cloud-paks/cp-data

 

Workarounds and Mitigations

None

Get Notified about Future Security Bulletins

References

Off

Acknowledgement

Change History

17 Dec 2025: Initial Publication

*The CVSS Environment Score is customer environment specific and will ultimately impact the Overall CVSS Score. Customers can evaluate the impact of this vulnerability in their environments by accessing the links in the Reference section of this Security Bulletin.

Disclaimer

According to the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST), the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) is an "industry open standard designed to convey vulnerability severity and help to determine urgency and priority of response." IBM PROVIDES THE CVSS SCORES ""AS IS"" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. CUSTOMERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF ANY ACTUAL OR POTENTIAL SECURITY VULNERABILITY. In addition to other efforts to address potential vulnerabilities, IBM periodically updates the record of components contained in our product offerings. As part of that effort, if IBM identifies previously unidentified packages in a product/service inventory, we address relevant vulnerabilities regardless of CVE date. Inclusion of an older CVEID does not demonstrate that the referenced product has been used by IBM since that date, nor that IBM was aware of a vulnerability as of that date. We are making clients aware of relevant vulnerabilities as we become aware of them. "Affected Products and Versions" referenced in IBM Security Bulletins are intended to be only products and versions that are supported by IBM and have not passed their end-of-support or warranty date. Thus, failure to reference unsupported or extended-support products and versions in this Security Bulletin does not constitute a determination by IBM that they are unaffected by the vulnerability. Reference to one or more unsupported versions in this Security Bulletin shall not create an obligation for IBM to provide fixes for any unsupported or extended-support products or versions.

Document Location

Worldwide

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Document Information

Modified date:
17 December 2025

Initial Publish date:
17 December 2025

UID

ibm17255143