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Business Process ManagerApplication · Ibm

CVE-2018-1384

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-03-30
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

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 Business Process Manager 8.6 is vulnerable to cross-site scripting. This vulnerability allows users to embed arbitrary JavaScript code in the Web UI thus altering the intended functionality potentially leading to credentials disclosure within a trusted session. IBM X-Force ID: 138135.

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 Business Process Manager 8.6 contains a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in its Web UI. Attackers can embed arbitrary JavaScript code that executes within trusted user sessions, potentially allowing credential disclosure or session hijacking.

MitigationApply IBM's security patch or upgrade from BPM 8.6 to a patched version. Additionally, implement output encoding and input validation as compensating 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
Business Process ManagerApplication
Affected:= 7.5.0.0= 7.5.0.1= 7.5.1.0= 7.5.1.1= 7.5.1.2= 8.0.0.0= 8.0.1.0= 8.0.1.1= 8.0.1.2= 8.0.1.3= 8.5.0.0= 8.5.0.1
Websphere Enterprise Service BusApplication
Affected:= 7.0.0.0= 7.0.0.1= 7.0.0.2= 7.0.0.3= 7.0.0.4= 7.0.0.5= 7.5.0.0= 7.5.0.1= 7.5.1.0= 7.5.1.1= 7.5.1.2
Websphere Process ServerApplication
Affected:= 7.0= 7.0.0.1= 7.0.0.2= 7.0.0.3= 7.0.0.4= 7.0.0.5
Business Process Manager Enterprise Service BusApplication
Affected:= 8.6.0.0

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
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm IBM BPM, WPS, or WESB installation
    Locate installation directories such as /opt/ibm/BPM, /opt/ibm/WebSphere, or C:\IBM\BPM on the system. Check for presence of IBM Business Process Manager, WebSphere Process Server, or WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus binaries.
    Affected if Any of these IBM products are installed on the server
  2. Identify installed product version
    Check version files in the installation directory, typically found in the product's properties or version.info file. Common paths include <install_dir>/properties/version or check the IBM Installation Manager registry.
    Affected if The installed version matches any of the affected versions listed: BPM 7.5.0.0-8.5.0.1, WESB 7.0.0.0-7.5.1.2, WPS 7.0-7.0.0.5, or BPM ESB 8.6.0.0
  3. Verify Web UI component is enabled
    Inspect the WebSphere Application Server admin console or configuration files for enabled BPM Web applications. Check the deployment descriptor for the Process Portal or Teamworks web application.
    Affected if The Web UI (Process Portal, Teamworks, or associated web modules) is enabled and accessible to users
  4. Identify exposed Web UI endpoints
    Review httpd.conf or plugin-cfg.xml for exposed WebSphere web modules. Check which virtual hosts and context roots are mapped to the BPM web applications.
    Affected if The Web UI is exposed via HTTP/HTTPS to users or untrusted networks
  5. Check for existing XSS input handling
    Review HTML response headers and page sources from the BPM login and portal pages. Look for presence of anti-XSS encoding headers like X-XSS-Protection or Content-Security-Policy.
    Affected if No output encoding or input validation is observed in the Web UI responses

A user is affected if they run any of the listed IBM product versions with the Web UI enabled and accessible, as the stored XSS exists in the Web UI component.

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 IBM's security patch or upgrade from BPM 8.6 to a patched version. Additionally, implement output encoding and input validation as compensating controls.

Fix this in Business Process Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
40.0 hours of engineering $7,000
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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-2018-1384 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