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Cognos AnalyticsApplication · Ibm

CVE-2019-4623

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-12-30
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

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 Cognos Analytics 11.0 and 11.1 is vulnerable to cross-site scripting. This vulnerability allows users to embed arbitrary JavaScript code in the Web UI thus altering the intended functionality potentially leading to credentials disclosure within a trusted session. IBM X-Force ID: 168924.

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 Cognos Analytics versions 11.0 and 11.1 contain a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the web interface. Attackers can embed malicious JavaScript code that executes within trusted user sessions, potentially allowing credential theft or session hijacking.

MitigationApply the IBM Cognos Analytics security patch or upgrade to a fixed version. Implement output encoding and input validation for user-supplied data in the web UI.

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
Cognos AnalyticsApplication
Affected:= 11.0.0= 11.1.0

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
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the installed IBM Cognos Analytics version
    Open IBM Cognos Configuration and view the product version information, or check the installation directory for version metadata files
    Affected if The displayed version is 11.0.0 or 11.1.0 exactly
  2. Confirm the web interface is accessible
    Verify that the Cognos Analytics web portal is reachable via browser at the configured gateway URL
    Affected if The web interface responds and user sessions can be established - this is required for the XSS to execute in a trusted session
  3. Review custom content in the web portal
    Inspect any custom reports, dashboards, or user-generated content stored in Cognos for unexpected script tags or JavaScript references
    Affected if Malicious script tags are found embedded in stored content within the Cognos content store

You are affected if IBM Cognos Analytics version 11.0.0 or 11.1.0 is installed and the web interface is enabled, as the stored XSS can execute within trusted user sessions.

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

Apply the IBM Cognos Analytics security patch or upgrade to a fixed version. Implement output encoding and input validation for user-supplied data in the web UI.

Fix this in Cognos Analytics Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
27.0 hours of engineering $4,800
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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-2019-4623 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