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Infosphere Information ServerApplication · Ibm

CVE-2018-1727

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-02-15
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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, 11.5, and 11.7 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: 147630.

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 InfoSphere Information Server versions 9.1, 11.3, 11.5, and 11.7 contains an XML External Entity Injection (XXE) vulnerability when processing XML data. A remote unauthenticated attacker can exploit this by sending malicious XML requests to expose sensitive filesystem information via external entity references or cause memory exhaustion through recursive entity expansion.

MitigationApply the vendor patch for CVE-2018-1727 or disable external entity resolution in XML parsers used by the affected IBM InfoSphere components. Validate and sanitize all XML input to prevent XXE attacks.

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= 11.7

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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
    Locate the InfoSphere installation directory and check version files, or use the product's version query mechanism (e.g., $IS_HOME/version.xml, or the 'dmpmode' command if available)
    Affected if The installed version matches 9.1, 11.3, 11.5, or 11.7 exactly
  2. Identify XML processing endpoints
    Review web service definitions, API configurations, or data transformation job configurations that accept XML input within the InfoSphere environment
    Affected if The system exposes XML input points (such as XSLT transformations, data quality XML imports, or metadata XML uploads)
  3. Check XML parser configuration for external entity settings
    Examine XML parser configuration files or Java properties (e.g., parser-specific config files in the installation, or look for 'external-general-entities', 'external-parameter-entities' settings)
    Affected if External entity resolution is enabled or set to 'true' in the XML parser configuration
  4. Test XML input for XXE vulnerability
    Submit a crafted XML payload with an external entity reference (e.g., <!DOCTYPE test [<!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM 'file:///etc/passwd'>]>) to identified XML processing endpoints and observe if entity expansion occurs or external resources are accessed
    Affected if The submitted external entity is resolved and its content is returned or the system makes an outbound request to the attacker-controlled URL

A user is affected if IBM InfoSphere Information Server version 9.1, 11.3, 11.5, or 11.7 is installed AND the system processes XML input with external entity resolution enabled in the XML 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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the vendor patch for CVE-2018-1727 or disable external entity resolution in XML parsers used by the affected IBM InfoSphere components. Validate and sanitize all XML input to prevent XXE attacks.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

IBM InfoSphere Information Server 11.7.1 or later

  1. 1. Identify the current installed version of IBM InfoSphere Information Server using the IBM version commands or console.
  2. 2. Review IBM's official support portal (support.ibm.com) for security bulletins related to CVE-2018-1727.
  3. 3. Obtain and apply the appropriate IBM security patch or interim fix for your specific version (9.1, 11.3, 11.5, or 11.7).
  4. 4. Alternatively, upgrade to a later version of IBM InfoSphere Information Server that includes the fix (version 11.7.1 or later).
  5. 5. After applying the patch or upgrade, restart the affected services as instructed by IBM documentation.
  6. 6. Validate that the XXE vulnerability is remediated by testing XML processing with known XXE payloads.
  7. 7. Verify normal XML processing functionality continues to work as expected after the fix.
Caveat Review IBM's release notes for upgrade path from older versions as there may be compatibility considerations and data migration requirements

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Infosphere Information Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,280
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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-2018-1727 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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