Introduction
Unauthorized access to SAP NetWeaver on IBM i-series can lead to direct exposure of sensitive business data and administrative controls. Recent incidents involving authentication bypasses in enterprise platforms have resulted in data breaches and operational disruptions across multiple industries.
About SAP NetWeaver and IBM i-series:
- SAP is a global enterprise software provider with over 400,000 customers worldwide. SAP NetWeaver is its core integration and application platform, supporting ERP, CRM, and analytics for large organizations.
- IBM i-series (formerly AS/400) is a widely deployed enterprise server platform, known for reliability and used in sectors like finance, manufacturing, and government. It runs critical workloads and integrates deeply with business applications like SAP.
Technical Information
CVE-2025-42958 is a critical vulnerability in SAP NetWeaver applications running on IBM i-series. The vulnerability arises from a missing authentication check in the application logic. Specifically, the application fails to validate user credentials before granting access to high privileged or administrative functionalities. This flaw is categorized under CWE-250 (Execution with Unnecessary Privileges), indicating that certain operations are performed with elevated permissions without proper checks.
Attackers can exploit this by sending requests to network-accessible interfaces (such as web endpoints or RFC services) that do not enforce authentication. If successful, an unauthorized user can:
- Read sensitive information
- Modify or delete business data
- Access or manipulate administrative features
The vulnerability impacts all three security pillars: confidentiality, integrity, and availability. There are no public code snippets or proof of concept details available for this vulnerability.
Affected Systems and Versions
- Product: SAP NetWeaver application
- Platform: IBM i-series (AS/400)
- Specific version numbers or ranges are not disclosed in public advisories as of the publication date.
- Only SAP NetWeaver deployments on IBM i-series are affected by this issue.
Vendor Security History
SAP NetWeaver has experienced multiple critical vulnerabilities in 2025, including:
- CVE-2025-31324: Authentication bypass in Visual Composer
- CVE-2025-42999: Similar privilege escalation issue IBM i-series platforms have also seen privilege escalation and authentication flaws, such as:
- CVE-2025-33109: Privilege escalation due to invalid authority checks
- CVE-2025-3218: Authentication and authorization attack in IBM i NetServer SAP issues regular security updates and advisories, but the frequency of severe vulnerabilities in 2025 highlights ongoing security challenges for both vendors.