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Infosphere Information Server Metadata WorkbenchApplication · Ibm

CVE-2014-0933

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-05-16
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in IBM InfoSphere Information Server Metadata Workbench 8.1 through 9.1 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users.

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

CSRF vulnerability in IBM InfoSphere Information Server Metadata Workbench versions 8.1-9.1 allows remote attackers to perform unauthorized actions by tricking authenticated users into visiting malicious pages. The application lacks proper anti-CSRF token validation or origin/referer checks, enabling attackers to hijack authenticated sessions.

MitigationImplement synchronizer token pattern with unique CSRF tokens for all state-changing operations, validate Origin/Referer headers on requests, and consider SameSite cookie attributes for session cookies.

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
Infosphere Information Server Metadata WorkbenchApplication
Affected:= 8.1.0= 8.1.0.1= 8.1.0.2= 8.1.1= 8.5.0= 8.5.0.1= 8.5.0.2= 8.5.0.3= 8.7.0= 8.7.0.1= 8.7.0.2= 9.1.0

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
Network
Complexity
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

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 Metadata Workbench installation
    Locate the IBM InfoSphere Information Server installation and identify if the Metadata Workbench component is present. Common paths include the IS installation directory under /MetadataWorkbench or similar. Check running services for MetadataWorkbench processes.
    Affected if Metadata Workbench component is installed and running
  2. Identify installed version
    Check the Metadata Workbench version by examining version files, about dialogs, or the IBM Installation Manager registry. Common locations include installation_directory/version.ini or the metadata in the IBM Information Server registry.
    Affected if Version matches any of: 8.1.0, 8.1.0.1, 8.1.0.2, 8.1.1, 8.5.0, 8.5.0.1, 8.5.0.2, 8.5.0.3, 8.7.0, 8.7.0.1, 8.7.0.2, or 9.1.0
  3. Verify web interface exposure
    Determine if the Metadata Workbench web application is exposed by checking web server configuration files (such as plugin-cfg.xml for IBM HTTP Server) or by attempting to access the Metadata Workbench endpoint. Typical URLs follow patterns like /ibm/iis/MetadataWorkbench/ or similar IIS virtual directory paths.
    Affected if Metadata Workbench web interface is accessible over network
  4. Inspect form submissions for CSRF tokens
    Log into the Metadata Workbench web interface and examine HTML forms that perform state-changing operations (such as creating, modifying, or deleting metadata assets). Inspect the HTML source to verify whether each form includes a hidden input field containing a unique anti-CSRF token.
    Affected if Forms lack anti-CSRF token fields (such as csrfToken, csrf, or similar) in the HTML
  5. Check request header validation
    Use a web proxy or browser developer tools to intercept HTTP requests submitted to Metadata Workbench. Observe whether the server validates the Origin or Referer headers by inspecting server responses for rejections based on missing or mismatched headers.
    Affected if Requests succeed without Origin or Referer headers, indicating no validation is performed

The environment is affected if Metadata Workbench versions 8.1.0 through 9.1.0 are installed with the web interface exposed and state-changing operations lack anti-CSRF tokens and do not validate Origin/Referer headers.

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

Implement synchronizer token pattern with unique CSRF tokens for all state-changing operations, validate Origin/Referer headers on requests, and consider SameSite cookie attributes for session cookies.

Fix this in Infosphere Information Server Metadata Workbench Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
32.0 hours of engineering $5,600
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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-2014-0933 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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