Cognos AnalyticsApplication · Ibm

CVE-2019-4366

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-08-03
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 Cognos Analytics 11.0 and 11.1 is susceptible to an information disclosure vulnerability where an attacker could gain access to cached browser data. IBM X-Force ID: 161748.

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

IBM Cognos Analytics 11.0 and 11.1 contains an information disclosure vulnerability where an attacker with access to the user's browser or cached data could obtain sensitive information from cached browser data. This is a client-side information disclosure issue stemming from improper cache control on sensitive responses.

MitigationConfigure the application and underlying web server to send appropriate HTTP cache-control headers (no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate) to prevent sensitive data from being cached in the browser, and consider implementing cache-clearing mechanisms.

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
Cognos AnalyticsApplication
Affected:= 11.0.0= 11.1.0

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
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

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 Cognos Analytics version
    Check the installed version of IBM Cognos Analytics by accessing the About section in the product UI, or by querying the Cognos Configuration or installation directory for version information. Compare against the affected versions 11.0.0 and 11.1.0.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 11.0.0 or 11.1.0
  2. Inspect HTTP response headers for sensitive endpoints
    Use browser developer tools (Network tab) or an HTTP proxy to capture responses from the Cognos Analytics web interface. Examine the HTTP response headers, specifically looking for the Cache-Control header on endpoints that return sensitive data such as user profiles, credentials, or data reports.
    Affected if The Cache-Control header is missing, or does not include no-store, no-cache, or must-revalidate directives on sensitive endpoints
  3. Verify browser cache for stored sensitive data
    Open the browser's cached files view (for Chrome: chrome://cache/, or check the application data directory). Search for cached copies of Cognos Analytics pages that may contain sensitive user information, session data, or authentication credentials.
    Affected if Sensitive Cognos Analytics content is found cached in the browser

A user is affected if they run IBM Cognos Analytics version 11.0.0 or 11.1.0 AND the application fails to send proper Cache-Control headers (no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate) on sensitive responses, allowing data to be stored in the browser cache.

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

Configure the application and underlying web server to send appropriate HTTP cache-control headers (no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate) to prevent sensitive data from being cached in the browser, and consider implementing cache-clearing mechanisms.

Fix this in Cognos Analytics Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,744.

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-2019-4366 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