CVE-2020-4779
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 · uneditedA HTTP Verb Tampering vulnerability may impact IBM Curam Social Program Management 7.0.9 and 7.0.10. By sending a specially-crafted request, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability to bypass security access controls. IBM X-Force ID: 189156.
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 confidenceHTTP Verb Tampering vulnerability in IBM Curam Social Program Management 7.0.9 and 7.0.10 allows attackers to bypass security access controls by sending specially-crafted requests using alternative HTTP methods (verbs). This occurs when the application improperly validates or inconsistently enforces security checks across different HTTP methods.
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
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the installed IBM Curam SPM versionCheck the product version through the IBM Curam administration console, installation manifest, or by querying the application server's deployed ear file metadata. Common locations include the version.info file in the installation directory or the 'About' section in the Curam server administration interface.Affected if The installed version is exactly 7.0.9.0 or 7.0.10.0
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Confirm the application is accessible via HTTPVerify that the IBM Curam web interface is exposed over HTTP or HTTPS. Check the web server or IBM WebSphere/IBM HTTP Server configuration for the Curam application endpoints.Affected if The web interface is accessible and accepts HTTP requests
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Identify HTTP endpoint exposureReview the web application configuration to determine which URIs and servlets are exposed. Check the web.xml deployment descriptor for defined servlet mappings and their allowed HTTP methods.Affected if The application exposes web endpoints that process requests through different HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.)
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Test for inconsistent verb handling (authorized assessment only)If authorized, send test requests to known Curam endpoints using various HTTP methods (e.g., GET, POST, HEAD, OPTIONS, PUT, DELETE) and compare the responses. Look for cases where security checks are applied to one verb but not others for the same resource.Affected if Security access controls are enforced for some HTTP methods but bypassed or ignored for others on the same endpoint
If the installed version is exactly 7.0.9.0 or 7.0.10.0 and the application exposes HTTP web endpoints, the environment is likely affected by this HTTP verb tampering vulnerability.
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 dataImplement strict validation of HTTP methods at the application level and ensure security access controls are consistently applied regardless of the HTTP verb used. Consider implementing a web application firewall (WAF) as an additional layer of defense.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-4779 — 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-2020-4779 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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