# CVE-2026-18875: IBM Financial Transaction Manager RAG poisoning via unauthenticated runbook

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-18875-ibm-financial-transaction-manager-ftm-for-redhat-openshift-is  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-09-23. Updated: 2026-09-26  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2026-18875 · Severity: high · CVSS 7.3 · Published 2026-09-23

IBM Financial Transaction Manager (FTM) is a payment processing system used by financial institutions to manage transaction workflows. An unauthenticated attacker can inject malicious runbook content into the AI agent's database, allowing them to manipulate the system into executing unauthorized payment actions or stealing payment data. This vulnerability requires no authentication or special credentials to exploit.

Technologies: [IBM Financial Transaction Manager](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/financial-transaction-manager). Vendors: [IBM](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/ibm).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-18875 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-18875 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-18875?** High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.3, published 23 September 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** IBM Financial Transaction Manager <UNKNOWN>.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-18875?** No fixed version is recorded yet. Check the vendor's advisory in the references below. If you run it, Junglewise drafts a mitigation that fits your setup and applies it once you approve, with senior security engineers behind it.

**How is CVE-2026-18875 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a hosted service.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-18875?** Check whether you run IBM Financial Transaction Manager at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## Technical details

The FTM AI agent server (api.vectordb.runbooks.js:51) fails to enforce authentication on the runbook upsert endpoint, allowing unauthenticated insertion of malicious content into the vector database. An attacker can craft runbooks that steer the agent's tool calls toward payment exfiltration or unauthorized transaction initiation via prompt injection techniques (CWE-74). The vulnerability affects the API server component and requires only network access to exploit.

## Affected products

- IBM Financial Transaction Manager <UNKNOWN>

## Timeline

- 2026-09-23: disclosed

## References

- [https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7288641](https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7288641)

## Related threats

- [IBM Financial Transaction Manager XML external entity injection](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-93030-ftm-4-x-all-could-allow-a-remote-authenticated-attacker-to-obtain)
- [IBM Financial Transaction Manager missing authentication in Business Rules Manager](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-19267-ibm-financial-transaction-manager-ftm-for-redhat-openshift-is)
- [IBM Financial Transaction Manager boolean-based SQL injection](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-19179-ibm-financial-transaction-manager-ftm-for-redhat-openshift-could)
- [IBM Financial Transaction Manager privilege escalation in container](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-19087-ibm-financial-transaction-manager-ftm-for-redhat-openshift-could)
- [IBM Financial Transaction Manager stored cross-site scripting in UI](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-18872-ibm-financial-transaction-manager-ftm-for-redhat-openshift-is)