Infosphere Global Name ManagementApplication · Ibm

CVE-2019-4433

HIGH · 8.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-08-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
91/100
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 Global Name Management 5.0 and 6.0 and IBM InfoSphere Identity Insight 8.1 and 9.0 is vulnerable to an 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: 162890.

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 Global Name Management and Identity Insight products contain an XML External Entity Injection (XXE) vulnerability when processing XML data. A remote attacker can exploit this by submitting malicious XML containing external entity references, potentially exposing sensitive file system information or causing denial of service through memory exhaustion.

MitigationDisable external entity processing in XML parsers by configuring parsers to reject DTDs and external entities, implement strict input validation for XML data, and apply vendor-provided patches for the affected versions.

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 Global Name ManagementApplication
Affected:= 5.0= 6.0
Infosphere Identity InsightApplication
Affected:= 8.1= 9.0

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
High
Integrity
None
Availability
Low

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

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 installed IBM InfoSphere product and version
    Check the installed version of IBM InfoSphere Global Name Management or Identity Insight using the product's built-in version utility, about dialog, or installation directory metadata
    Affected if The installed version matches 5.0 or 6.0 for Global Name Management, or 8.1 or 9.0 for Identity Insight
  2. Confirm XML processing functionality is in use
    Determine whether the product is configured to process or parse XML data as part of its normal operations, which is the attack vector for this XXE flaw
    Affected if XML data processing is enabled or accessible in the product configuration
  3. Check XML parser configuration for external entity handling
    Inspect the XML parser settings used by the product to determine whether it is configured to process external entities and DTDs
    Affected if The XML parser allows external entity resolution or DTD processing, which would permit the XXE attack vector
  4. Verify network exposure of XML endpoints
    Determine if the product exposes any network interfaces, APIs, or endpoints that accept XML input from remote sources
    Affected if Remote unauthenticated or authenticated users can submit XML data to the product

A user is affected if they are running IBM InfoSphere Global Name Management versions 5.0 or 6.0, or Identity Insight versions 8.1 or 9.0, with XML processing functionality enabled and accessible.

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

Disable external entity processing in XML parsers by configuring parsers to reject DTDs and external entities, implement strict input validation for XML data, and apply vendor-provided patches for the affected versions.

Fix this in Infosphere Global Name Management Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,260
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-4433 — 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-2019-4433 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