Cognos AnalyticsApplication · Ibm

CVE-2016-9711

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-03-22
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
62/100
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 Predictive Solutions Foundation (IBM Cognos Analytics 11.0) reveals sensitive information in detailed error messages that could aid an attacker in further attacks against the system. IBM X-Force ID: 119619.

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 confidence

IBM Cognos Analytics 11.0 (Predictive Solutions Foundation) contains a vulnerability where detailed error messages reveal sensitive system information such as stack traces, file paths, database connection details, or configuration specifics. This information disclosure could provide an attacker with valuable reconnaissance data to craft more targeted follow-up attacks against the system.

MitigationImplement custom error handling to display generic, user-friendly messages to end users while logging detailed error information server-side only. Review and sanitize all error output across the application to ensure no sensitive data is exposed.

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 AnalyticsApplication
Affected:= 11.0.0

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
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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. Verify IBM Cognos Analytics version
    Check the installed version of IBM Cognos Analytics by inspecting the product About section or the installation directory for version metadata files
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 11.0.0 (the only affected version listed)
  2. Trigger an error condition in Predictive Solutions Foundation
    Submit an invalid request or malformed input to the Predictive Solutions Foundation module to intentionally cause an error response
    Affected if Error responses are returned with detailed stack traces, file paths, or internal system information
  3. Inspect error output for sensitive information
    Examine any error pages or messages returned by the application for exposure of database connection details, configuration file paths, or system environment variables
    Affected if Error messages contain sensitive reconnaissance data such as database credentials, full file paths, or stack traces
  4. Check application log configuration
    Review the IBM Cognos configuration files and logging settings to determine if error handling is configured to output verbose details to end users
    Affected if Error handling is set to display detailed error pages rather than generic messages

A user is affected if they are running IBM Cognos Analytics version 11.0.0 and the application returns detailed error messages containing stack traces, file paths, database connection details, or configuration information to end users.

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 custom error handling to display generic, user-friendly messages to end users while logging detailed error information server-side only. Review and sanitize all error output across the application to ensure no sensitive data is exposed.

Fix this in Cognos Analytics 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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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2016-9711 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