AppscanApplication · Hcltech

CVE-2019-4392

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-02-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 9.0.3.13 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
HCL AppScan Standard Edition 9.0.3.13 and earlier uses hard-coded credentials which can be exploited by attackers to get unauthorized access to the system.

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

HCL AppScan Standard Edition 9.0.3.13 and earlier contains hard-coded credentials embedded in the application code or configuration that allow unauthorized attackers to bypass authentication and gain access to the system.

MitigationRemove or replace the hard-coded credentials with dynamic, properly secured authentication mechanisms, update to a patched version if available, and conduct a comprehensive code review to identify any other hardcoded secrets.

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
AppscanApplication
Affected:<= 9.0.3.13

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. Check installed version of HCL AppScan
    Open the application and navigate to Help > About, or check the installer/registry for the installed version number
    Affected if The installed version is 9.0.3.13 or earlier (any version up to and including 9.0.3.13)
  2. Locate application configuration files
    Search the AppScan installation directory for configuration files such as .config, .xml, .ini, or .properties files that may contain embedded credentials
    Affected if Any configuration file contains hard-coded usernames, passwords, or API keys that were not set by the administrator during installation
  3. Review authentication configuration
    Examine the authentication configuration files in the installation directory for default or embedded credentials used for system access
    Affected if The application uses hard-coded credentials for authentication that cannot be changed or that differ from administrator-defined passwords
  4. Check for undocumented admin accounts
    Review user/account management within the application to identify any accounts not created by your administrators
    Affected if There are administrative accounts present that were not created by your organization or that use hard-coded default passwords

You are affected if HCL AppScan Standard Edition is installed at version 9.0.3.13 or earlier, or if any hard-coded credentials are found in configuration files or authentication mechanisms.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 9.0.3.13
Interim mitigation

Remove or replace the hard-coded credentials with dynamic, properly secured authentication mechanisms, update to a patched version if available, and conduct a comprehensive code review to identify any other hardcoded secrets.

Fix this in Appscan Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-4392 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-4392 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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