Qradar User Behavior AnalyticsApplication · Ibm

CVE-2021-20429

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-05-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.1.1 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 QRadar User Behavior Analytics 1.0.0 through 4.1.0 could disclose sensitive information due an overly permissive cross-domain policy. IBM X-Force ID: 196334.

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 QRadar User Behavior Analytics contains an overly permissive cross-domain policy (likely a CORS misconfiguration) that allows unauthorized cross-origin access to sensitive information. This enables attackers to make requests from malicious websites and potentially exfiltrate data that should be protected by same-origin restrictions.

MitigationRestrict the cross-domain policy by explicitly whitelisting legitimate origins, validating the Origin header server-side, and limiting exposed sensitive data. Update to a patched version if available or apply vendor-provided configuration guidance.

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
Qradar User Behavior AnalyticsApplication
Affected:>= 1.0.0, < 4.1.1

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify IBM QRadar UBA is installed
    Identify if IBM QRadar User Behavior Analytics is deployed in your environment. Check for the application service or consult your systems inventory.
    Affected if The product is present in the environment
  2. Determine installed version
    Locate and read the installed version of IBM QRadar UBA. This is typically available via the product's web interface, admin console, or by querying the application service.
    Affected if The installed version falls within the range >=1.0.0 and <4.1.1
  3. Inspect CORS configuration
    Examine the web server or application configuration that controls cross-origin requests. Look for Access-Control-Allow-Origin header settings or cross-domain policy files.
    Affected if The configuration allows wildcard origins (*) or does not validate the Origin header against an explicit whitelist
  4. Review exposed endpoints
    Identify API endpoints or resources accessible via HTTP that may return sensitive user behavior data. Check whether these endpoints are protected by same-origin policy or accept cross-origin requests without proper validation.
    Affected if Sensitive endpoints accept cross-origin requests from untrusted domains without validation
  5. Validate origin validation logic
    Examine server-side code or configuration that handles the Origin header. Determine whether incoming requests are validated against a defined whitelist of allowed origins.
    Affected if The server does not perform strict Origin header validation or relies solely on client-side checks

You are affected if IBM QRadar UBA version is between 1.0.0 and 4.1.0 (exclusive) AND the cross-domain policy permits access from arbitrary origins without proper validation.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.1.1 or later
Fixed in 4.1.1
Interim mitigation

Restrict the cross-domain policy by explicitly whitelisting legitimate origins, validating the Origin header server-side, and limiting exposed sensitive data. Update to a patched version if available or apply vendor-provided configuration guidance.

Fix this in Qradar User Behavior Analytics Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-20429 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-20429 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