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Mq ApplianceApplication · Ibm

CVE-2020-4938

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-07-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 9.1.0.8 / 9.2.0.2 or later.
See remediation →
95/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 MQ Appliance 9.1 and 9.2 is vulnerable to cross-site request forgery which could allow an attacker to execute malicious and unauthorized actions transmitted from a user that the website trusts. IBM X-Force ID: 191815.

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 MQ Appliance versions 9.1 and 9.2 are vulnerable to cross-site request forgery (CSRF). This allows an attacker to trick an authenticated user into unknowingly submitting malicious requests to the appliance's web interface, potentially executing unauthorized administrative actions on the MQ queue manager.

MitigationApply IBM's security patch for CVE-2020-4938. In the interim, disable the web console when not in use and implement additional request validation such as checking Origin/Referer headers as a defense-in-depth measure.

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
Mq ApplianceApplication
Affected:>= 9.1, < 9.2.2>= 9.1.0.0, < 9.1.0.8>= 9.2.0.0, < 9.2.0.2

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
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/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. Confirm IBM MQ Appliance is deployed
    Identify whether the target system is an IBM MQ Appliance (hardware appliance or virtual appliance image) rather than IBM MQ server software. Check system documentation, appliance management interface, or run 'show version' command on the appliance CLI.
    Affected if The system is an IBM MQ Appliance instance (this CVE does not affect IBM MQ server installations on other platforms).
  2. Retrieve the appliance version
    Access the appliance's administrative CLI or web console and locate the version information. In the CLI, use the 'show version' command or check the System Information page in the web UI.
    Affected if The installed version falls within these ranges: 9.1.0.0 through 9.1.0.7, or 9.2.0.0 through 9.2.0.1, or version 9.1.x where x is less than 9.2.2 (but excluding already-patched 9.1.0.8+ and 9.2.0.2+).
  3. Verify the web console is accessible
    Determine whether the IBM MQ Appliance web console (MQ UI) is enabled and accessible. Check via the appliance CLI using 'show http' or review the web console login page availability over HTTPS port 9443 (default).
    Affected if The web console is enabled and reachable - this is the attack surface for the CSRF vulnerability. If the web console is disabled, the CSRF risk is mitigated.

The environment is affected if it runs IBM MQ Appliance version 9.1.0.0-9.1.0.7 or 9.2.0.0-9.2.0.1 with the web console enabled.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 9.1.0.8 / 9.2.0.2 / 9.2.2 or later
Fixed in 9.1.0.89.2.0.29.2.2
Interim mitigation

Apply IBM's security patch for CVE-2020-4938. In the interim, disable the web console when not in use and implement additional request validation such as checking Origin/Referer headers as a defense-in-depth measure.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

IBM MQ Appliance 9.2.2 (or 9.1.0.8 / 9.2.0.2 for respective version branches)

  1. 1. Back up the IBM MQ Appliance configuration and any critical data before proceeding with the upgrade.
  2. 2. Review IBM MQ Appliance upgrade documentation for your current version to understand prerequisites and procedures.
  3. 3. Download the appropriate fixed version of IBM MQ Appliance (9.1.0.8, 9.2.0.2, or 9.2.2 or later) from IBM Fix Central or your entitled IBM software repository.
  4. 4. Schedule a maintenance window as upgrades may require service downtime.
  5. 5. Follow IBM's standard upgrade procedure for MQ Appliance, which typically involves uploading the fix pack via the appliance's web console or CLI.
  6. 6. After upgrade, verify the MQ Appliance is running the fixed version via the web console or 'display version' command.
  7. 7. Test critical MQ functions and flows to ensure normal operation.
  8. 8. Validate that the CSRF vulnerability is remediated by confirming the appliance now includes anti-CSRF tokens in forms.
Caveat Review IBM MQ Appliance release notes for your specific version upgrade path as there may be compatibility considerations with queue managers and client connections

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Mq Appliance Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,280
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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-2020-4938 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