CVE-2020-4970
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 · uneditedIBM Security Identity Governance and Intelligence 5.2.4, 5.2.5, and 5.2.6 could allow a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information, caused by the failure to properly enable HTTP Strict Transport Security. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to obtain sensitive information using man in the middle techniques. IBM X-Force ID: 192429.
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 confidenceIBM Security Identity Governance and Intelligence versions 5.2.4, 5.2.5, and 5.2.6 fail to properly enable HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), which prevents the browser from being forced to use HTTPS exclusively. This allows a man-in-the-middle attacker to intercept plaintext HTTP traffic and obtain sensitive information.
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= 5.2.4= 5.2.5= 5.2.6CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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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Verify IBM Security Identity Governance and Intelligence is installedLocate the installation directory typically under /opt/IBM/isigi or C:\Program Files\IBM\isigi, or check for the service/process running on the web application port (default 9443 or 8080)Affected if The product is not installed or not running - no further action needed
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Confirm installed version matches affected releasesCheck the product version in the installation directory's version.info file, or access the About page in the admin console, or run: ls -la <install_dir>/version.info (Linux) or type <install_dir>\version.info (Windows)Affected if Version is exactly 5.2.4, 5.2.5, or 5.2.6 - continue to HSTS checks
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Inspect HTTP response for HSTS headerUse a browser DevTools (Network tab), curl (curl -I https://<hostname>:<port>), or a network capture tool to make an HTTPS request and inspect response headers for 'Strict-Transport-Security' headerAffected if The Strict-Transport-Security header is missing from HTTPS responses - vulnerable to MITM attack
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Check web server configuration for HSTS settingsExamine the IBM HTTP Server (IHS) configuration file (httpd.conf or httpd-ssl.conf) and the web.xml deployment descriptor in the application for HSTS-related directivesAffected if No HSTS configuration found in web server or application configuration files - HSTS is not enabled
A user is affected if they run IBM Security Identity Governance and Intelligence version 5.2.4, 5.2.5, or 5.2.6 AND HSTS headers are not present in HTTPS responses or configured in the web server/application.
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 dataEnable HSTS headers on the IBM SGI web server and/or application layer to ensure all communications occur over HTTPS and are protected from MITM attacks.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,456.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-4970 — 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-2020-4970 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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