CVE-2015-5017
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 · uneditedIBM Maximo Asset Management 7.1 through 7.1.1.13, 7.5.0 before 7.5.0.8 IFIX005, and 7.6.0 before 7.6.0.2 IFIX002; Maximo Asset Management 7.5.0 before 7.5.0.8 IFIX005, 7.5.1, and 7.6.0 before 7.6.0.2 IFIX002 for SmartCloud Control Desk; and Maximo Asset Management 7.1 through 7.1.1.13 and 7.2 for Tivoli IT Asset Management for IT and certain other products allow remote authenticated users to bypass intended access restrictions and establish a login session by entering an expired password.
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 confidenceIBM Maximo Asset Management contains an authentication bypass vulnerability where the system incorrectly allows authenticated users with expired passwords to establish a login session, bypassing intended password expiration access controls.
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= 7.1= 7.2= 7.1= 7.5= 7.6= 7.1= 7.5= 7.1= 7.1= 7.5= 7.1= 7.5= 7.6= 7.1= 7.5= 7.1= 7.5CVSS 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
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/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 installed Maximo product and versionLocate the Maximo installation directory and check for version information files such as build.info, maximo.properties, or access the Maximo About screen from the application. Common paths include <Maximo_Home>/applications/maximo or check the MAXIMO_HOME environment variable.Affected if The installed version matches 7.1.x, 7.2.x, 7.5.x, or 7.6.x of any affected IBM Maximo product listed in the CVE.
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Verify password expiration policy is enabledAccess Maximo Security Groups configuration (Security > Users) or query the MAXUSER table in the database to check if password expiration is configured. Also check the system properties related to password aging in Maximo System Properties configuration.Affected if Password expiration policy is enabled and users are subject to password expiry controls.
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Check for users with expired passwordsQuery the MAXUSER or equivalent user table in the Maximo database. Look for user records where the password expiration date (PWORDEXP or similar field) has passed current date, or examine user status through Maximo User application.Affected if There exist user accounts with expired passwords that could potentially authenticate if the vulnerability is present.
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Confirm patch application statusCheck the installed Maximo IFIX level by reviewing the maximo.properties file, build.info, or the Maximo System Information page. Look for references to IFIX005 (for 7.5.0) or IFIX002 (for 7.6.0) or version 7.1.1.13.Affected if The installed IFIX or version does not include the CVE fix, meaning IFIX005/IFIX002 or version 7.1.1.13 is NOT applied.
Your environment is affected if the installed Maximo version is 7.1.x, 7.2.x, 7.5.x, or 7.6.x and the CVE fix (IFIX005/IFIX002 or upgrade to 7.1.1.13) has not been applied.
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-supplied patches (IFIX005 for 7.5.0, IFIX002 for 7.6.0, or upgrade to 7.1.1.13) to remediate the expired password validation flaw.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-5017 — 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-2015-5017 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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