Lotus NotesApplication · Ibm

CVE-2013-0522

HIGH · 7.0 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-07-16
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The Notes Client Single Logon feature in IBM Notes 8.0, 8.0.1, 8.0.2, 8.5, 8.5.1, 8.5.2, 8.5.3, and 9.0 on Windows allows local users to discover passwords via vectors involving an unspecified operating system communication mechanism for password transmission between Windows and Notes. IBM X-Force ID: 82531.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The IBM Notes Client Single Logon feature on Windows transmits passwords between Windows and Notes via an unspecified operating system communication mechanism. Local users can exploit this mechanism to discover plaintext passwords, making this a local information disclosure vulnerability.

MitigationApply IBM's patched version of Notes (beyond 9.0) or install the relevant security fix from IBM to address the password transmission flaw in the Single Logon feature.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Lotus NotesApplication
Affected:= 8.0= 8.0.1= 8.0.2= 8.5= 8.5.1= 8.5.2= 8.5.3= 9.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
High
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Windows operating system
    Verify the system is running Windows (this vulnerability affects only Windows environments)
    Affected if System is not Windows - the vulnerability does not apply to other operating systems
  2. Check IBM Lotus Notes installation and version
    Locate the Notes client executable (typically in C:\Program Files\IBM\Lotus\Notes or C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\Lotus\Notes) and check the version via file properties or run 'notes.exe -version' if supported
    Affected if Installed version matches 8.0, 8.0.1, 8.0.2, 8.5, 8.5.1, 8.5.2, 8.5.3, or 9.0
  3. Verify Single Logon feature is enabled
    Open Notes client, go to File > Preferences > Notes Password Settings, or check notes.ini configuration file for 'SingleLogon=1' setting
    Affected if Single Logon feature is enabled - the vulnerability only applies when this feature is active
  4. Check for credential access opportunities
    Review system for processes or tools that could intercept inter-process or OS-level communication between Windows and Notes (this is the unspecified mechanism mentioned in the advisory)
    Affected if Local user has ability to observe OS-level communication between Windows authentication and Notes client

User is affected only if running Windows with IBM Lotus Notes version 8.0 through 9.0 AND the Single Logon feature is enabled, allowing local users to intercept password data via OS communication mechanisms.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply IBM's patched version of Notes (beyond 9.0) or install the relevant security fix from IBM to address the password transmission flaw in the Single Logon feature.

Fix this in Lotus Notes Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-0522 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-0522 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data