CVE-2021-20564
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 Security (CP4S) 1.4.0.0, 1.5.0.0, 1.5.0.1, 1.6.0.0, and 1.6.0.1 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: 199235.
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 Cloud Pak for Security versions 1.4.0.0 through 1.6.0.1 fail to properly enable HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) headers, allowing attackers on the same network path to perform man-in-the-middle attacks and intercept sensitive communications that should be protected by TLS encryption.
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= 1.4.0.0= 1.5.0.0= 1.5.0.1= 1.6.0.0= 1.6.0.1CVSS 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
- 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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Identify installed IBM Cloud Pak for Security versionUse the IBM Cloud Pak CLI or admin console to retrieve the current installed version. Typically this can be done via 'cloudctl version' or through the platform admin UI under System Information.Affected if The installed version is 1.4.0.0, 1.5.0.0, 1.5.0.1, 1.6.0.0, or 1.6.0.1.
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Verify HSTS header presence in HTTP responsesSend an HTTP request to the IBM Cloud Pak for Security login page or any protected endpoint over HTTPS and inspect the response headers for 'Strict-Transport-Security'. Use a tool like curl -I https://<hostname>/<endpoint> and examine the headers.Affected if The response does NOT contain a Strict-Transport-Security header, or the header is missing entirely.
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Check HSTS configuration in web server or reverse proxyInspect the configuration file for the web server or reverse proxy (such as nginx, httpd, or IBM HTTP Server) that fronts the Cloud Pak for Security application. Look for 'Strict-Transport-Security' directive in the server block or virtual host configuration.Affected if HSTS is not configured, or the directive is commented out, or max-age is set to 0.
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Confirm HTTP to HTTPS redirect is enforcedSend an HTTP request (non-TLS) to the Cloud Pak for Security hostname and verify it redirects to HTTPS. Observe the response status code and Location header.Affected if HTTP requests do NOT redirect to HTTPS, or the redirect is missing.
You are affected if your installed version is between 1.4.0.0 and 1.6.0.1 AND HSTS headers are not present in HTTPS responses or not configured in your web server/reverse proxy.
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 dataConfigure the web server or reverse proxy to enable HSTS headers (Strict-Transport-Security max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains) and ensure all HTTP traffic is redirected to HTTPS.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-20564 — 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-2021-20564 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
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