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Elastic Storage ServerApplication · Ibm

CVE-2020-4382

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-08-24
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 5.3.5 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 Spectrum Scale for IBM Elastic Storage Server 5.3.0 through 5.3.5 could allow an authenticated user to cause a denial of service during deployment or upgrade pertaining to xcat services. IBM X-Force ID: 179163.

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 confidence

IBM Spectrum Scale for IBM Elastic Storage Server versions 5.3.0 through 5.3.5 contains a denial of service vulnerability affecting xcat services during deployment or upgrade operations. An authenticated user can trigger the DoS condition, causing disruption to the xcat (Extreme Cloud Administration Toolkit) service which is critical for cluster management and node provisioning.

MitigationUpgrade to IBM Spectrum Scale for IBM Elastic Storage Server version 5.3.6 or later. Until an upgrade can be performed, limit deployment and upgrade operations to trusted administrators only to reduce the attack surface.

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
Elastic Storage ServerApplication
Affected:>= 5.3.0, <= 5.3.5

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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 installed product and version
    Determine if IBM Elastic Storage Server or IBM Spectrum Scale for IBM Elastic Storage Server is installed and retrieve the specific version number
    Affected if The installed version is 5.3.0, 5.3.1, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.3.4, or 5.3.5
  2. Compare version against affected range
    Verify the installed version falls within the range 5.3.0 through 5.3.5 inclusive
    Affected if The version is greater than or equal to 5.3.0 and less than or equal to 5.3.5
  3. Confirm xcat deployment status
    Check whether xcat (Extreme Cloud Administration Toolkit) services are deployed or configured in the environment
    Affected if xcat services are present and active in the system

You are affected if IBM Elastic Storage Server version 5.3.0 through 5.3.5 is installed and xcat services are in use, as the vulnerability specifically causes denial of service to xcat during deployment or upgrade operations.

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 5.3.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to IBM Spectrum Scale for IBM Elastic Storage Server version 5.3.6 or later. Until an upgrade can be performed, limit deployment and upgrade operations to trusted administrators only to reduce the attack surface.

Fix this in Elastic Storage Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2020-4382 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