IBM DataPower Gateway: Improper authentication with empty LDAP passwords
Summary
IBM DataPower Gateway does not reject empty passwords during LDAP authentication in the affected versions. A remote attacker can use this to obtain administrative access without valid credentials, without prior privileges and without user interaction. NVD rates the issue CVSS 9.8 (Critical) and classifies it as CWE-287 (Improper Authentication).
Affected
- IBM DataPower Gateway 10.5.0.0 through 10.5.0.22
- IBM DataPower Gateway 10.6.0.0 through 10.6.0.10
- IBM DataPower Gateway 10.6.1 through 10.6.6 (listed as 10.6CD)
- IBM DataPower Gateway 11.0.0.0 through 11.0.0.2
Fixed in
- 10.5.0.23 (for 10.5.0.x)
- 10.6.0.11 (for 10.6.0.x)
- 11.0.0.3 (for 10.6.1 to 10.6.6 and 11.0.0.x)
Workaround
Unknown. No vendor-published mitigation found. Restrict access to the management interface to trusted administration networks until the fix is applied.
Exploitation
- No evidence of active exploitation. CISA SSVC lists exploitation as none.
- Automatable: yes (CISA SSVC). Technical impact: total.
- No public proof of concept found in searches. This does not prove that none exists.
Our recommendation
- Check whether an affected DataPower Gateway version is in use and whether the management interface is reachable from untrusted networks.
- Check whether LDAP is used for administrative or AAA login.
- Apply the fixed version from IBM as soon as possible.
- Restrict management access and monitor for unexpected administrative logins until patched.
- Note: VulDB rates the issue 10.0 and classifies it as CWE-259. This entry uses the NVD baseline (9.8, CWE-287).
Public exploits
PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit and Exploit-DB list nothing for this CVE.
Research sources
- IBM Security Bulletin: IBM DataPower Gateway affected by multiple CVEs www.ibm.com
- Rapid7 Vulners: CVE-2026-14502 vulners.com
- Strix: CVE-2026-14502 www.strix.ai
- ThreatInt: CVE-2026-14502 cve.threatint.com
- VulDB: CVE-2026-14502 vuldb.com
Researched and written up in English and German by an AI (Claude by Anthropic) based on NVD, CISA, EPSS and the sources listed. The vendor information is authoritative. Researched on 30 Oct 2026, 20:27.
Original description (NVD)
IBM DataPower Gateway 10.5.0.0 through 10.5.0.22, 10.6.1 through 10.6.6, 10.6.0.0 through 10.6.0.10, and 11.0.0.0 through 11.0.0.2 could allow a remote attacker to obtain administrative access due to failure to reject empty passwords during LDAP authentication.
NVD references (1)
Sources
The tracker combines official, freely usable data sources – updated continuously:
- NVD (NIST) – CVEs, rating (CVSS), affected products
- CISA KEV – vulnerabilities confirmed by CISA as actively exploited
- CISA Vulnrichment – CISA assessment (SSVC) in the official CVE record
- FIRST EPSS – probability of exploitation
- Microsoft MSRC – Patch Tuesday: vulnerabilities, severity, updates
- PoC-in-GitHub – public proof-of-concept repositories
- Metasploit (Rapid7) – modules of the Metasploit Framework
- Exploit-DB (OffSec) – archive of public exploits (links only)
- Patch days: official vendor pages (linked per vendor) (Vendor patch days)
This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS data © FIRST.org.
Affected? We can help.
We check whether your systems are affected, install updates and close the gap – continuously with the System Health Checker if you wish.