CVE-2019-4425
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 Business Automation Workflow 18.0.0.0, 18.0.0.1, and 18.0.0.2 could allow a user to obtain highly sensitive information from another user by inserting links that would be clicked on by unsuspecting users. IBM X-Force ID: 162771.
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 confidenceIBM Business Automation Workflow versions 18.0.0.0 through 18.0.0.2 contains a vulnerability where an authenticated user can insert malicious links that, when clicked by other users, leak highly sensitive information to the attacker. This appears to be an information disclosure vulnerability requiring user interaction (social engineering).
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>= 18.0.0.0, <= 19.0.0.2>= 8.0.0.0, <= 8.0.1.3>= 8.5.0.0, <= 8.5.0.2= 8.5.5.0= 8.5.6.0= 8.5.7.0= 8.6.0.0CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the installed IBM productCheck the product name in the IBM Installation Manager, the administrative console, or the installation directory (look for product.xml or version.info files in the install directory)Affected if The product is IBM Business Automation Workflow or IBM Business Process Manager
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Determine the installed versionAccess the About section in the IBM BPM/BAW Administration Console or check version files in the installation directory (such as the version.info file in the install root)Affected if The version falls within 18.0.0.0 to 18.0.0.2 for BAW, or 8.0.0.0-8.0.1.3, 8.5.0.0-8.5.0.2, 8.5.5.0, 8.5.6.0, 8.5.7.0, or 8.6.0.0 for BPM
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Verify user access to content creation featuresReview which user roles have permission to create or edit content containing hyperlinks in the Process Designer or Workplace (check the Security role assignments in the BPM Administration console under Users and Groups)Affected if Untrusted or low-privilege authenticated users can insert or edit content with hyperlinks
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Inspect for suspicious links in process contentSearch process applications, coaches, or user-facing pages for external hyperlinks that could be malicious (use the Process Designer Find function or examine saved process definitions in the database if direct access is available)Affected if Links point to unexpected external domains or contain encoded parameters likely used for information exfiltration
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Review access logs for link-click patternsExamine HTTP access logs (typically in the profiles/Logs directory) for patterns where users are clicking links that redirect to external domains, especially in bulk or from low-privilege usersAffected if Logs show unusual patterns of link clicks to external domains, particularly from user accounts that should not require access to sensitive data
A user is affected if they run a vulnerable BAW or BPM version AND have untrusted authenticated users with access to content creation features where malicious links could be inserted.
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 IBM Business Automation Workflow cumulative fix PTF 18.0.0.2 or later. As a temporary workaround, educate users about not clicking on untrusted links within the application and monitor for suspicious activity.
- 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-2019-4425 — 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-2019-4425 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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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.
- 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