CVE-2019-4546
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 · uneditedAfter installing the IBM Maximo Health- Safety and Environment Manager 7.6.1, a user is granted additional privileges that they are not normally allowed to access. IBM X-Force ID: 165948.
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 Maximo Health- Safety and Environment Manager 7.6.1 contains an authorization flaw where certain users are inadvertently granted elevated privileges beyond what their assigned role should permit. This represents a privilege escalation vulnerability allowing unauthorized access to functionality and data.
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= 7.6.1= 7.6.1CVSS 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Identify installed Maximo product versionAccess Maximo Administration workspace or use the maxlist command to query the installed version. In Maximo, go to System Configuration > Platform Installation > Installation History to confirm version 7.6.1 of either Maximo Health, Safety and Environment Manager or Maximo For Oil And Gas.Affected if The installed version is exactly 7.6.1 for either affected product.
-
Verify authorization module is activeConfirm the Maximo Security and User Security groups module is configured and active. Check System Configuration > Security > User Security to verify security groups and roles are being enforced.Affected if Security groups and role-based access control are enabled in the environment.
-
Review user role assignmentsNavigate to System Configuration > Security > User Security or Security Groups to enumerate all users and their assigned roles. Export or list all users with administrative or elevated roles.Affected if Users exist in the system with assigned roles that grant elevated privileges.
-
Identify role privilege discrepanciesCross-reference each user's assigned role against their actual granted permissions. Check if any standard or limited users have access to administrative functions, data, or menus they should not normally access based on their documented role.Affected if Any user possesses privileges exceeding what their assigned role should normally provide.
If running version 7.6.1 of the affected product and any user has privileges beyond what their assigned role should permit, the environment is affected by this privilege escalation vulnerability.
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 dataReview user role assignments and implement principle of least privilege; apply any IBM security patches for this issue once available.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-4546 — 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-2019-4546 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
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.
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