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Cognos ExpressApplication · Ibm

CVE-2013-5445

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-03-25
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
IBM Cognos Express 9.0 before IFIX 2, 9.5 before IFIX 2, 10.1 before IFIX 2, and 10.2.1 before FP1 allows local users to obtain sensitive cleartext information by leveraging knowledge of a static decryption key.

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

IBM Cognos Express versions 9.0, 9.5, 10.1, and 10.2.1 contain a static (hardcoded) decryption key embedded in the application. Local users with system access can leverage knowledge of this static key to decrypt sensitive information stored by the application, resulting in exposure of cleartext credentials or other confidential data.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied IFIX/FP updates (9.0 IFIX 2, 9.5 IFIX 2, 10.1 IFIX 2, or 10.2.1 FP1) which replace the static decryption key with proper key management. After patching, rotate any credentials that may have been stored using the vulnerable encryption.

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
Cognos ExpressApplication
Affected:= 9.0= 9.5= 10.1= 10.2.1

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
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 checks

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

  1. Identify IBM Cognos Express installed version
    Locate and inspect the application version information. This is typically found in the Cognos Administration console under 'About Cognos Express', in installation logs, or in a version file within the installation directory.
    Affected if The displayed version matches 9.0, 9.5, 10.1, or 10.2.1 exactly
  2. Confirm exact version match
    Compare your identified version string against the affected versions. Note that only the specific versions listed (9.0, 9.5, 10.1, 10.2.1) are affected; later or interim versions may have different status.
    Affected if The version is exactly 9.0, 9.5, 10.1, or 10.2.1

If IBM Cognos Express is installed and the version is exactly 9.0, 9.5, 10.1, or 10.2.1, the environment contains the static decryption key vulnerability.

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 the vendor-supplied IFIX/FP updates (9.0 IFIX 2, 9.5 IFIX 2, 10.1 IFIX 2, or 10.2.1 FP1) which replace the static decryption key with proper key management. After patching, rotate any credentials that may have been stored using the vulnerable encryption.

Fix this in Cognos Express Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2013-5445 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