CVE-2015-3993
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 · uneditedActian Matrix 5.1.x through 5.1.2.4 and 5.2.x through 5.2.0.1 allows remote authenticated users to bypass intended write-access restrictions and execute an UPDATE statement by referencing a table.
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 confidenceActian Matrix (formerly Ingres) database versions 5.1.x through 5.1.2.4 and 5.2.x through 5.2.0.1 contain an authorization bypass vulnerability where authenticated users can execute UPDATE statements on tables despite lacking proper write-access permissions. The access control mechanism fails to properly enforce table-level write restrictions.
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= 5.1.1= 5.1.2= 5.2.0CVSS 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
- Single
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Actian Matrix versionRun 'ingprenv VERSION' or check the installation directory for version files. Alternatively, query the database with: SELECT idb('version');Affected if The installed version is 5.1.x through 5.1.2.4, or 5.2.x through 5.2.0.1, specifically 5.1.1, 5.1.2, or 5.2.0
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Confirm database is using table-level permissionsReview the table permissions configuration using 'ingprtable' command or check the DBMS catalog tables that store table-level access control rules. Look for tables where grant options define UPDATE privileges.Affected if Table-level write permissions are configured but the access control enforcement is bypassed for authenticated users
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Verify authenticated user permissions enforcementCreate a test user with only SELECT permission on a specific table, then attempt an UPDATE operation from that user's session. Use: GRANT SELECT ON <table> TO <testuser>; then test UPDATE access.Affected if The UPDATE succeeds despite the user only being granted SELECT permission - indicating the authorization bypass is present
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Review existing user permissions on sensitive tablesQuery the iitables and ii table privileges system catalogs to list all users and their UPDATE permissions on critical tables. Use SELECT statements against system catalogs to enumerate table-level grants.Affected if Users without explicit UPDATE grants are able to modify tables they should not have write access to
A user is affected if they are running any Actian Matrix version between 5.1.1-5.1.2.4 or 5.2.0, and authenticated users with only SELECT permissions can successfully execute UPDATE statements on restricted tables.
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 the vendor patch for this vulnerability and review existing user permissions to ensure only authorized users have UPDATE access to sensitive tables. Consider network segmentation to limit database exposure.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-3993 — 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-2015-3993 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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