Emptoris Contract ManagementApplication · Ibm

CVE-2019-4481

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-08-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 10.1.3 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
IBM Contract Management 10.1.0 through 10.1.3 and IBM Emptoris Spend Analysis 10.1.0 through 10.1.3 is vulnerable to SQL injection. A remote attacker could send specially-crafted SQL statements, which could allow the attacker to view, add, modify or delete information in the back-end database. IBM X-Force ID: 164064.

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

SQL injection vulnerability in IBM Contract Management 10.1.0-10.1.3 and IBM Emptoris Spend Analysis 10.1.0-10.1.3 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL statements via specially-crafted input, potentially allowing full read/write/delete access to the back-end database.

MitigationApply IBM's vendor patches for this vulnerability or upgrade to a fixed version. Until then, implement strict input validation and deploy WAF rules as a compensating control.

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
Emptoris Contract ManagementApplication
Affected:>= 10.1.0, <= 10.1.3
Emptoris Spend AnalysisApplication
Affected:>= 10.1.0, <= 10.1.3

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 installed product and version
    Locate the IBM Emptoris application installation directory and check the version file or about page within the product UI. Common locations include the installation logs, version.properties file, or the application's 'About' section in the web interface.
    Affected if The installed version is IBM Emptoris Contract Management or IBM Emptoris Spend Analysis version 10.1.0, 10.1.1, 10.1.2, or 10.1.3
  2. Confirm web interface accessibility
    Determine if the IBM Emptoris web application is accessible from untrusted networks by checking network firewall rules, reverse proxy configurations, or load balancer settings that expose the application ports (typically 8443, 443, or 8080).
    Affected if The web interface is directly accessible from the internet or untrusted networks without proper network segmentation
  3. Review application logs for SQL injection indicators
    Examine IBM Emptoris application server logs and database logs for unusual SQL syntax, multiple UNION SELECT statements, or suspicious queries containing SQL keywords (SELECT, UNION, INSERT, DROP, DELETE) in parameter values. Check logs under the installation directory in the logs folder.
    Affected if Logs contain SQL error messages, unusual query patterns, or evidence of malformed SQL in request parameters
  4. Inspect database access patterns
    Review database user permissions and audit database access logs to identify if the application database user has elevated privileges beyond what is required for normal operation.
    Affected if The application database user has administrative or owner-level permissions that could allow full read/write/delete operations

Your environment is affected if you are running IBM Emptoris Contract Management or IBM Emptoris Spend Analysis versions 10.1.0 through 10.1.3 and the web interface is accessible, as this SQL injection flaw could allow attackers to execute arbitrary SQL statements against your database.

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 10.1.3
Interim mitigation

Apply IBM's vendor patches for this vulnerability or upgrade to a fixed version. Until then, implement strict input validation and deploy WAF rules as a compensating control.

Fix this in Emptoris Contract Management Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
36.0 hours of engineering $6,400
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $10,240.

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-2019-4481 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