CVE-2018-1632
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 · uneditedIBM Informix Dynamic Server Enterprise Edition 12.1 could allow a local user logged in with database administrator user to gain root privileges through a symbolic link vulnerability in .infxdirs. IBM X-Force ID: 144432.
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 confidenceIBM Informix Dynamic Server 12.1 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability where a local user with database administrator privileges can manipulate symbolic links within the .infxdirs file to gain root-level system access. The vulnerability stems from improper validation of file paths during operations on this configuration file, allowing symlink-based directory traversal to overwrite or access sensitive system resources.
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= 12.10CVSS 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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed IBM Informix versionRun 'onstat -' or check Informix installation directory for version information. Common paths: $INFORMIXDIR/bin, /opt/IBM/informixAffected if Version is 12.10 (specifically 12.10.x)
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Locate the .infxdirs configuration fileSearch for .infxdirs in the Informix data directory, typically under $INFORMIXDIR or the Informix server root directory. Use: find $INFORMIXDIR -name '.infxdirs' 2>/dev/nullAffected if File exists and is readable/writable by Informix DBA users
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Inspect .infxdirs file permissions and ownershipRun 'ls -la' on the found .infxdirs file to check owner, group, and permission bitsAffected if File is owned by informix user or a DBA user, or has world-writable permissions
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Verify presence of symlinks in directories referenced by .infxdirsParse the .infxdirs file to identify listed directories, then check each with 'ls -la' for symbolic links pointing outside expected pathsAffected if Symlinks in these directories point to sensitive system locations like /etc, /root, or /tmp with unusual targets
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Review DBA user access and privilegesQuery Informix user roles: connect to the database as a privileged user and run 'select username, usertype from systabauth' or check OS-level DBA group membership (informix group)Affected if Untrusted or unauthorized users have DBA or admin privileges in Informix
Environment is affected if running IBM Informix Dynamic Server 12.10 with accessible .infxdirs file and untrusted DBA-level users present.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataApply the IBM Informix patch for CVE-2018-1632 (contact IBM support for hotfix). As a compensating control, restrict database administrator access to trusted personnel and monitor for unauthorized modifications to .infxdirs files.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-1632 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-1632 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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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