CVE-2020-4772
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 · uneditedAn XML External Entity Injection (XXE) vulnerability may impact IBM Curam Social Program Management 7.0.9 and 7.0.10. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to expose sensitive information, denial of service, server side request forgery or consume memory resources. IBM X-Force ID: 189150.
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 confidenceAn XML External Entity Injection (XXE) vulnerability in IBM Curam Social Program Management versions 7.0.9 and 7.0.10 allows remote attackers to exploit malicious XML input containing external entity references. This can expose sensitive information, cause denial of service, perform server-side request forgery, or consume memory resources.
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= 7.0.9.0= 7.0.10.0CVSS 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
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed IBM Curam SPM versionLocate the version information for IBM Curam Social Program Management in your environment. This is typically found in the product's about panel, installation directory, or version metadata files.Affected if The installed version is 7.0.9.0 or 7.0.10.0 specifically.
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Confirm version matches CVE scopeCompare your identified version against the affected versions 7.0.9.0 and 7.0.10.0. Ensure you have the exact four-digit version format (for example, 7.0.9.0 not 7.0.9).Affected if Your exact version is 7.0.9.0 or 7.0.10.0.
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Determine if XML parsing features are in useIdentify whether your IBM Curam installation processes XML data through any integration points, imports, data exchanges, or application features that accept XML input.Affected if XML parsing functionality is enabled or used in your deployment.
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Check XML parser configuration for external entity settingsInspect the XML parser configuration in your IBM Curam environment to determine whether external entity processing is permitted. Consult your XML parser documentation for how to verify the current security setting.Affected if External entity processing is enabled in your XML parser configuration.
You are affected if your IBM Curam Social Program Management installation is exactly version 7.0.9.0 or 7.0.10.0 and your environment processes XML data with external entity processing allowed in the parser.
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 dataApply IBM's vendor patch for CVE-2020-4772 and disable external entity processing in the XML parser configuration to prevent XXE attacks.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 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 $3,168.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-4772 — 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-2020-4772 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
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- 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
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