Marketing PlatformApplication · Ibm

CVE-2018-1424

HIGH · 7.1 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-12-07
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable 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 Marketing Platform 9.1.0, 9.1.2, and 10.1 is vulnerable to a XML External Entity Injection (XXE) attack when processing XML data. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to expose sensitive information or consume memory resources. IBM X-Force ID: 139029.

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 confidence

IBM Marketing Platform versions 9.1.0, 9.1.2, and 10.1 are vulnerable to XML External Entity Injection (XXE). The application fails to properly disable external entity processing when parsing XML data, allowing a remote attacker to inject malicious XML that can read local files or cause memory exhaustion.

MitigationApply IBM's available patch for this vulnerability. As a compensating control, disable external entity resolution in the XML parser configuration and implement strict input validation for all XML data submitted to the platform.

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
Marketing PlatformApplication
Affected:= 9.1.0= 9.1.2= 10.1

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
Low

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

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 Marketing Platform version
    Locate the installed IBM Marketing Platform version by checking the platform's 'About' section, version manifest, or installation directory metadata. Common locations include the installation logs, version.info file, or the platform administration console.
    Affected if The installed version matches exactly 9.1.0, 9.1.2, or 10.1
  2. Locate XML input endpoints
    Review application configuration files and web service definitions to identify where the platform accepts XML input. Check for XML import features, API endpoints accepting XML payloads, or configuration upload functions.
    Affected if The platform accepts XML input through any web service, API, or configuration import feature
  3. Inspect XML parser configuration
    Examine the XML parser configuration files used by the application. Look for parser settings related to external entity processing, doctype handling, or entity resolver configuration. Check application server XML parser settings and any custom XML handler configurations.
    Affected if External entity resolution is not explicitly disabled in the XML parser configuration (no XXE protection settings present)

A user is affected if they have IBM Marketing Platform version 9.1.0, 9.1.2, or 10.1 installed AND the platform accepts XML input with external entity processing enabled in the parser configuration.

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 available patch for this vulnerability. As a compensating control, disable external entity resolution in the XML parser configuration and implement strict input validation for all XML data submitted to the platform.

Fix this in Marketing Platform 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
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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-2018-1424 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
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