CVE-2013-0539
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 · uneditedAn unspecified third-party component in IBM Sterling B2B Integrator 5.1 and 5.2 and Sterling File Gateway 2.1 and 2.2 uses short session ID values, which makes it easier for remote attackers to hijack sessions, and consequently obtain sensitive information, via a brute-force attack.
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 · moderate confidenceIBM Sterling B2B Integrator and Sterling File Gateway include a third-party component that generates session IDs with insufficient entropy. The short session ID values can be brute-forced by remote attackers to hijack valid user sessions and access sensitive information.
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= 5.1= 5.2= 2.1= 2.2CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the installed product and versionLocate and examine the IBM Sterling B2B Integrator or Sterling File Gateway installation. Check version information through the product's about or system information interface, or consult installation documentation for version retrieval methods.Affected if The installed version is 5.1 or 5.2 for Sterling B2B Integrator, or 2.1 or 2.2 for Sterling File Gateway.
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Confirm the product is in useVerify that the IBM Sterling application is actively deployed and handling user sessions. Determine whether the web interface or any session-based functionality is accessible.Affected if The product is deployed and session-based authentication or access is available to users.
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Determine if remote network access existsAssess whether the Sterling application web interface or APIs are exposed to network access, either internally or externally.Affected if The application is network-accessible and accepts user authentication requests.
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Assess session ID characteristics if observableIf safe to do so without exploiting, observe the format and length of session IDs generated by the application. Compare to industry best practices for session identifier entropy.Affected if Session IDs appear short or use predictable patterns that suggest low entropy.
The environment is affected if IBM Sterling B2B Integrator version 5.1 or 5.2, or Sterling File Gateway version 2.1 or 2.2 is deployed and handling user sessions with network accessibility.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataApply vendor patches from IBM for Sterling B2B Integrator and Sterling File Gateway. If no patch is available, consider implementing additional session validation mechanisms or replacing the vulnerable third-party component with a more secure alternative.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-0539 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-0539 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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
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