Description

IBM Cloud Pak for Data System 11.3.0.2 through Interim Fix 001 could allow an unauthorized user to inject data into log messages due to improper neutralization of special elements when written to log files.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "5.3",
  "pubDate": "2026-09-04T17:16:51.710Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-09-04T17:16:51.710Z",
  "executiveSummary": "IBM Cloud Pak for Data System versions 11.3.0.2 through Interim Fix 001 contain a vulnerability involving improper neutralization of special elements in log messages.\nThis vulnerability is classified as log injection, allowing an unauthorized user to manipulate system logs by injecting arbitrary data.\nThe primary risk involves the compromise of log integrity, which can lead to the corruption of audit trails, misdirection of security monitoring systems, or the injection of malicious payloads into log aggregation tools.\nExploitation requires the ability of an unauthorized user to provide input that is subsequently recorded by the system without proper sanitization.\nImpact includes the potential for security teams to be misled during forensic investigations or the triggering of downstream vulnerabilities in log analysis software that parses these logs.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability stems from the application's failure to adequately sanitize or escape user-supplied input before writing it to internal log files. In IBM Cloud Pak for Data System 11.3.0.2 and associated Interim Fixes, specific input vectors process special characters without sufficient neutralization mechanisms.\nRoot cause analysis identifies the lack of output encoding or input validation at the logging interface level. When the system processes input that contains carriage return (CR) or line feed (LF) characters, or other special metadata-altering sequences, it allows an attacker to inject fabricated log entries into the underlying log storage.\nThe attack flow begins with an unauthorized user providing a malicious string containing carriage return/line feed (CRLF) characters. If the logging utility lacks proper filtering, the injected characters terminate the current log entry prematurely and start a new line, effectively forging a legitimate-looking but falsified log record.\nThis injection vector allows an attacker to craft log entries that appear to originate from authorized system services or administrators. By manipulating the log structure, an attacker can mask their true activities, obfuscate malicious commands, or inject malicious payloads designed to exploit downstream log analysis tools (e.g., SIEM or log management platforms) that interpret log data as executable content or code.\nThe vulnerability does not inherently grant remote code execution within the logging service itself, but rather targets the trust boundary between the application and the log ingestion pipeline. The exploitation is successful because the system treats the input as trusted data during the serialization process, failing to recognize the presence of characters that have semantic significance within the logging infrastructure.\nPost-exploitation impact includes the corruption of incident response procedures. Because security monitoring relies on the accuracy of log files, the ability to inject fake entries undermines the integrity of auditing and compliance reports, effectively blinding security responders or leading them to investigate non-existent issues while the attacker remains undetected."
}