CVE-2021-20422
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 Cloud Pak for Applications 4.3 could disclose sensitive information to a malicious attacker by accessing data stored in memory. IBM X-Force ID: 196304.
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 confidenceIBM Cloud Pak for Applications 4.3 contains a vulnerability that allows a malicious attacker to access sensitive data stored in memory. This information disclosure issue carries a CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH), indicating significant risk to confidentiality of potentially sensitive application data.
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< 4.3.1CVSS 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/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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Identify IBM Cloud Pak for Applications installationRun 'oc get installations.operators.coreos.com' or use 'ibmcloud cp install' commands to list installed Cloud Paks in the clusterAffected if IBM Cloud Pak for Applications is not installed in the environment
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Retrieve installed version of IBM Cloud Pak for ApplicationsUse the OpenShift CLI: 'oc get ICP4ACluster -A' or check the operator version via 'oc get subscription ibm-cloudpak-applications -n <namespace> -o jsonpath={.status.installedCSV}' and then 'oc get csv <csv-name> -n <namespace> -o jsonpath={.spec.version}'Affected if Unable to determine version or no version information returned
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Compare installed version to affected rangeReview the version number obtained from the previous step and compare it against the affected range: versions less than 4.3.1 are vulnerableAffected if Installed version is below 4.3.1 (for example, 4.3.0, 4.2.x, or any 4.x version prior to 4.3.1)
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Verify the operator channelCheck the subscription channel: 'oc get subscription ibm-cloudpak-applications -n <namespace> -o jsonpath={.spec.channel}' to confirm the update channelAffected if Channel is set to an older stream that does not point to 4.3.1 or later
A system is affected if IBM Cloud Pak for Applications is installed and the installed version is below 4.3.1.
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 data4.3.1
Apply the vendor-supplied patch or update to IBM Cloud Pak for Applications 4.3 to remediate the memory disclosure vulnerability. If no patch is available, contact IBM X-Force for guidance.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-20422 — 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-2021-20422 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data