# CVE-2025-33120: IBM QRadar SIEM privilege escalation

> An authenticated user can escalate privileges in IBM QRadar SIEM due to a misconfigured cronjob running with unnecessary privileges.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 22 Aug 2025
- **Updated:** 26 Feb 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-67f9-x324-v6v2

## What is CVE-2025-33120?

CVE-2025-33120 is a high-severity vulnerability in Ibm Qradar Security Information and Event Manager, published on 22 Aug 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

IBM QRadar SIEM 7.5 through 7.5.0 UP13 could allow an authenticated user to escalate their privileges via a misconfigured cronjob due to execution with unnecessary privileges.

Weakness: CWE-250 (Execution with Unnecessary Privileges)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-33120?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Ibm Qradar Incident Forensics, Ibm Qradar Security Information and Event Manager.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-33120?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-33120 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-33120 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-33120 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Ibm Qradar Security Information and Event Manager

- [CVE-2016-9726](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-9726/): Command injection in IBM Security QRadar SIEM 7.1 MR1, 7.1, 7.0, 7.2, 7.1 MR2, 7, 7.1 MR2, 7.2.3 (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2016-9727](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-9727/): Command injection in QRadar SIEM (high 8.5)
- [CVE-2018-1649](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1649/): Path traversal in QRadar Incident Forensics (high 7.7)
- [CVE-2018-1648](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1648/): Weak cryptography in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2018-1647](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1647/): Denial of service in QRadar Incident Forensics (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-33120 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-33120 is a high-severity vulnerability in Ibm Qradar Security Information and Event Manager, published on 22 Aug 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-33120 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Ibm Qradar Security Information and Event Manager. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-33120/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-33120/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-33120
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-33120
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-33120

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-33120/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.