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Security GuardiumApplication · Ibm

CVE-2020-4183

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-06-04
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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 Security Guardium 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: 174739.

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 Security Guardium 11.1 contains a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in its Web UI. Attackers can embed arbitrary JavaScript code into the Web interface, which executes in the browsers of other users viewing the affected content. This can allow attackers to hijack trusted sessions and exfiltrate credentials or perform actions on behalf of authenticated users.

MitigationApply the vendor patch for CVE-2020-4183 (IBM Security Guardium 11.1). If patching is immediately unavailable, implement output encoding and input validation on all user-supplied data rendered in the Web UI, and consider deploying a WAF rule to detect and block XSS payloads.

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
Security GuardiumApplication
Affected:= 11.1

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
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Verify IBM Security Guardium version
    Access the Guardium Web UI login page or use the command line (e.g., 'guardium_version' or check /opt/guardium/version file if available) to determine the exact installed version. Compare against the affected version 11.1.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 11.1.
  2. Confirm Web UI component is enabled
    Verify that the Guardium Web UI (typically accessed via HTTPS on port 8443 or 443) is currently accessible and operational. Check if the service is running using system commands like 'ps aux | grep guardium' or by accessing the login endpoint.
    Affected if The Web UI is accessible and the version is confirmed as 11.1.
  3. Review Web UI input fields for stored XSS payloads
    Log into the Web UI as an administrator and inspect any user-controllable fields such as report names, custom definitions, group names, or policy labels. Check if any fields contain suspicious script tags or JavaScript code that could indicate a previously injected XSS payload.
    Affected if Arbitrary script tags or JavaScript code are found stored in any Web UI input fields.
  4. Examine browser execution of stored content
    Access the Guardium Web UI and navigate to areas where user-supplied data is displayed (e.g., dashboards, reports, alerts). Observe whether any stored content executes JavaScript automatically without user interaction, indicating successful XSS exploitation.
    Affected if JavaScript executes automatically when viewing stored content in the Web UI.
  5. Inspect web access logs for XSS patterns
    Review Guardium web server logs (typically found in /var/log or within the Guardium installation directory) for requests containing XSS payloads such as <script>, javascript:, or event handlers like onload/onerror.
    Affected if Logs contain XSS payload patterns in requests to the Web UI.

If the installed version is exactly 11.1 and the Web UI is accessible, the environment is potentially affected by this stored XSS vulnerability.

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 vendor patch for CVE-2020-4183 (IBM Security Guardium 11.1). If patching is immediately unavailable, implement output encoding and input validation on all user-supplied data rendered in the Web UI, and consider deploying a WAF rule to detect and block XSS payloads.

Fix this in Security Guardium Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,780
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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-2020-4183 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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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