Security Verify AccessApplication · Ibm

CVE-2021-29665

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-06-01
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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 Security Verify Access 20.07 is vulnerable to a stack based buffer overflow, caused by improper bounds checking which could allow a local attacker to execute arbitrary code on the system with elevated privileges.

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 Security Verify Access 20.07 contains a stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability caused by improper bounds checking. This allows a local attacker to execute arbitrary code on the system with elevated privileges, potentially leading to complete system compromise.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied patch for CVE-2021-29665 immediately. Limit local access to trusted personnel and follow the principle of least privilege to reduce the attack surface.

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
Security Verify AccessApplication
Affected:= 20.07

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/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. Verify IBM Security Verify Access is installed
    Locate the IBM Security Verify Access installation directory or check system services for the Verify Access service using commands like 'ls', 'sc query', or 'systemctl status' depending on your operating system
    Affected if The product is present on the system
  2. Determine the installed version
    Run the version check command for IBM Security Verify Access, typically found in the installation directory (commonly /opt/ibm/verifyaccess or C:\Program Files\IBM\Verify Access) using 'version', '-V', or checking a version file
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 20.07
  3. Confirm the vulnerable binary or component
    Since no specific vulnerable component is documented in this CVE, check for any IBM Verify Access executables or libraries in the installation path that may contain the stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability
    Affected if The vulnerable binary exists in the installation and version equals 20.07
  4. Identify running processes using the affected version
    Use process monitoring tools (ps, top, Task Manager) to confirm IBM Security Verify Access processes are running on the system
    Affected if Verify Access processes are active on version 20.07

A system is affected if IBM Security Verify Access version 20.07 is installed and running, as this CVE targets that specific version with a local stack-based buffer overflow requiring no specific feature to be enabled beyond the base product.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied patch for CVE-2021-29665 immediately. Limit local access to trusted personnel and follow the principle of least privilege to reduce the attack surface.

Fix this in Security Verify Access Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,400
Get help mitigating

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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-29665 — 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-2021-29665 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