Infosphere Information ServerApplication · Ibm

CVE-2017-1469

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-08-14
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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 InfoSphere Information Server 9.1, 11.3, and 11.5 could allow a local user to gain elevated privileges by placing arbitrary files in installation directories. IBM X-Force ID: 128468.

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 InfoSphere Information Server versions 9.1, 11.3, and 11.5 contain a local privilege escalation vulnerability where an unprivileged local user can place arbitrary files in the product's installation directories. This allows the attacker to manipulate files that are later executed or loaded by processes running with elevated (administrator/system) privileges, resulting in arbitrary code execution with those higher privileges.

MitigationApply the IBM patch for this vulnerability (contact IBM Support for APAR numbers). As immediate workarounds, ensure strict file system permissions on installation directories to prevent low-privilege users from writing to these locations, and limit local user access to the system.

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 ServerApplication
Affected:= 9.1= 11.3= 11.5

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 InfoSphere Information Server installation and version
    Locate the InfoSphere installation directory and check for version information files (such as version.ini, manifest files, or using product-specific commands like 'lsinstall -version' if available)
    Affected if The installed version is 9.1, 11.3, or 11.5 exactly as listed in affected versions
  2. Verify file system permissions on installation directories
    Use OS-native commands to list permissions on the product installation directory (for example, 'icacls' on Windows or 'ls -la' on Linux/Unix). Check if standard users or unprivileged accounts have Write or Modify permissions to the main installation folder or subdirectories.
    Affected if Unprivileged local users have Write or Modify permissions to the InfoSphere installation directories, allowing them to place or modify files that may be executed by elevated processes
  3. Audit installation directories for unauthorized or unexpected files
    Review the contents of the InfoSphere installation directories (particularly bin, lib, or conf folders) for files that were not part of a known deployment or that appear to have been placed by a non-administrator account
    Affected if Unexpected or suspicious files exist in the installation directories, particularly in locations loaded or executed by the product's privileged services

A system is affected if IBM InfoSphere Information Server version 9.1, 11.3, or 11.5 is installed AND unprivileged users have Write access to the product's installation directories, enabling potential privilege escalation.

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 IBM patch for this vulnerability (contact IBM Support for APAR numbers). As immediate workarounds, ensure strict file system permissions on installation directories to prevent low-privilege users from writing to these locations, and limit local user access to the system.

Fix this in Infosphere Information Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-1469 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-1469 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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