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PlatformApplication · Pega

CVE-2019-16374

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-08-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 8.2.1 or later.
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
Pega Platform 8.2.1 allows LDAP injection because a username can contain a * character and can be of unlimited length. An attacker can specify four characters of a username, followed by the * character, to bypass access control.

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

Pega Platform 8.2.1 contains an LDAP injection vulnerability where usernames can include the * (wildcard) character and be of unlimited length. An attacker can bypass access control by providing the first four characters of a valid username followed by a * wildcard, allowing the LDAP query to match multiple accounts.

MitigationImplement strict input validation to reject or sanitize special LDAP characters (*, (, ), \, NUL) in usernames, enforce reasonable length limits, and use proper LDAP escaping when constructing authentication queries.

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
PlatformApplication
Affected:<= 8.2.1

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 Pega Platform version
    Check the Pega Platform version through the admin console or deployment manifests. Navigate to Designer Studio > System > Settings > Version or check the prpcutils script output.
    Affected if The installed version is 8.2.1 or lower.
  2. Confirm LDAP authentication is enabled
    Verify that Pega Platform is configured to use LDAP for authentication. Check the authentication service configuration in Designer Studio > System > Settings > Authentication or the proauthsettings.xml file.
    Affected if LDAP or Active Directory authentication service is active.
  3. Inspect username field input validation
    Review the authentication activity or rule that handles username input during login. Look for validation logic that filters or rejects LDAP special characters (*, (, ), \, NUL). Check the @pxRetrieveAuthenticationProfile or similar authentication activities.
    Affected if No validation exists to reject or escape LDAP metacharacters in the username field.
  4. Check username length restrictions
    Examine the username field configuration or validation rules for maximum length constraints. Verify if there is a defined character limit applied to username input.
    Affected if No maximum length limit is enforced on the username field or the limit is unreasonably large.

You are affected if Pega Platform version is 8.2.1 or lower, LDAP authentication is enabled, and the username field lacks proper validation for LDAP special characters and length limits.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 8.2.1
Interim mitigation

Implement strict input validation to reject or sanitize special LDAP characters (*, (, ), \, NUL) in usernames, enforce reasonable length limits, and use proper LDAP escaping when constructing authentication queries.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Pega Platform 8.2.2 or later

  1. 1. Verify current Pega Platform version by navigating to System > Release > About Pega Platform
  2. 2. Download Pega Platform 8.2.2 or later from the Pega download portal (https://community.pega.com/pxdownloads)
  3. 3. Review Pega upgrade guide for your migration path: https://community.pega.com/knowledgebase/articles/upgrade/upgrade-ga
  4. 4. Perform a full backup of your Pega database and rules schema before upgrading
  5. 5. Test the upgrade in a non-production environment first
  6. 6. Apply the upgrade during a planned maintenance window
  7. 7. After upgrade, verify the LDAP authentication is working correctly and the * character is now properly sanitized in the username field
Caveat Review Pega 8.2.2 release notes for any changes to LDAP authentication behavior or configuration requirements that may affect your implementation

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

Fix this in Platform Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
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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-2019-16374 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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