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Db2Application · Ibm

CVE-2018-1544

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-05-25
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 DB2 for Linux, UNIX and Windows (includes DB2 Connect Server) 9.7, 10.1, 10.5, and 11.1 could allow a local user to overflow a buffer which may result in a privilege escalation to the DB2 instance owner. IBM X-Force ID: 142648.

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 DB2 versions 9.7, 10.1, 10.5, and 11.1 contain a buffer overflow vulnerability that allows a local authenticated user to overflow a buffer and escalate privileges to the DB2 instance owner. This is a local privilege escalation flaw requiring local system access.

MitigationApply the IBM DB2 security patch for CVE-2018-1544. Until patched, limit local system access to trusted users and follow the principle of least privilege for DB2 instance accounts.

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
Db2Application
Affected:= 9.7= 10.1= 10.5= 11.1

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
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 DB2 installation
    Run 'db2pd -installp' or check for DB2 installation directories such as /opt/ibm/db2 or C:\Program Files\IBM\DB2. Also check for the db2pd or db2level commands in PATH.
    Affected if DB2 software is found on the system
  2. Determine DB2 version
    Execute 'db2level' or 'db2pd -version' from a DB2 instance owner account or look in the db2diag.log file for version information.
    Affected if The installed version is 9.7, 10.1, 10.5, or 11.1
  3. Verify DB2 instance is running
    Run 'db2 list active databases' or 'db2pd -database' to check if any DB2 instance is active.
    Affected if A DB2 instance is running on the affected version
  4. Check user context
    Identify which OS user owns the DB2 instance by running 'db2 get instance' and compare with the current user context.
    Affected if You are a local authenticated user on the system where the affected DB2 version is running

A system is affected if it runs any DB2 version 9.7, 10.1, 10.5, or 11.1 with an active instance, and an untrusted local user can interact with that instance.

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 DB2 security patch for CVE-2018-1544. Until patched, limit local system access to trusted users and follow the principle of least privilege for DB2 instance accounts.

Fix this in Db2 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2018-1544 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