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MqApplication · Ibm

CVE-2020-4267

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-04-24
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 8.0.0.14 / 9.1.0.4 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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 MQ and MQ Appliance 8.0, 9.1 LTS, and 9.1 CD could allow an authenticated user cause a denial of service due to a memory leak. IBM X-Force ID: 175840.

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 MQ and MQ Appliance versions 8.0, 9.1 LTS, and 9.1 CD contain a memory leak vulnerability that allows authenticated users to cause a denial of service. An authenticated attacker can exploit this by triggering the memory leak repeatedly until the system becomes unresponsive.

MitigationApply the appropriate IBM MQ security patch or upgrade to a fixed version. Monitor system memory usage and implement resource limits for authenticated users to mitigate exploitation while patching.

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
MqApplication
Affected:>= 8.0.0.0, < 8.0.0.14>= 9.1.0.0, < 9.1.0.4
Mq ApplianceApplication
Affected:>= 9.1.0, < 9.1.5

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 IBM MQ version
    Run 'dspmqver -a' from the command line to display version information, or check installation directories for version files. On Windows, examine the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\IBM\MQSeries\CurrentVersion
    Affected if Installed version is 8.0.0.0 through 8.0.0.13, or 9.1.0.0 through 9.1.0.3
  2. Identify IBM MQ Appliance version
    If using an appliance, log into the appliance CLI and run 'show version' or access the web management console to view the firmware version
    Affected if Appliance firmware version is 9.1.0 through 9.1.4
  3. Confirm authentication is configured
    Use the runmqsc command to check queue manager auth settings with 'DISPLAY AUTHINFO(*) AUTHENDA' or review CONNAUTH settings in the queue manager configuration
    Affected if Queue manager has authentication enabled and accepts authenticated connections, allowing a logged-in user to trigger the vulnerability

You are affected if your IBM MQ installation is version 8.0.0.0-8.0.0.13, 9.1.0.0-9.1.0.3, or your MQ Appliance is 9.1.0-9.1.4 and authentication is enabled to permit authenticated user access.

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 8.0.0.14 / 9.1.0.4 / 9.1.5 or later
Fixed in 8.0.0.149.1.0.49.1.5
Interim mitigation

Apply the appropriate IBM MQ security patch or upgrade to a fixed version. Monitor system memory usage and implement resource limits for authenticated users to mitigate exploitation while patching.

Fix this in Mq Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,380
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,808.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2020-4267 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