Security Identity ManagerApplication · Ibm

CVE-2021-29686

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-05-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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 Identity Manager 7.0.2 could allow an authenticated user to bypass security and perform actions that they should not have access to. IBM X-Force ID: 200015

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 confidence

IBM Security Identity Manager 7.0.2 contains a broken access control vulnerability that allows authenticated users to bypass security restrictions and perform actions outside their authorized permissions. This is an authorization/privilege escalation flaw where the system fails to properly validate user permissions for certain operations, enabling authenticated attackers to access functionality they should not have access to.

MitigationApply the IBM security patch for CVE-2021-29686 (consult IBM Fix Central for PSIRT bundle). Review and test role-based access control (RBAC) configurations to ensure proper enforcement after patching. Verify that users can only access permitted functions within their assigned roles.

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 Identity ManagerApplication
Affected:= 7.0.2

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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. Identify the installed IBM Security Identity Manager version
    Access the IBM Security Identity Manager admin console or check the product installation directory for version information. Common locations include the about page in the admin UI or version manifest files in the installation directory.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 7.0.2 (no additional patches applied)
  2. Determine if the system has recent security patches applied
    Review the IBM Fix Central or IBM Support documentation to confirm whether the CVE-2021-29686 patch bundle has been applied to the installation.
    Affected if The security patch for CVE-2021-29686 has not been applied to version 7.0.2
  3. Review RBAC configuration for proper role enforcement
    Access the role-based access control (RBAC) configuration panel in the IBM Security Identity Manager admin console and audit the role assignments and permission mappings.
    Affected if Users have permissions that exceed their assigned roles or unauthorized access to administrative functions is possible

A user is affected if IBM Security Identity Manager version 7.0.2 is running without the CVE-2021-29686 security patch and the system allows authenticated users to perform actions outside their authorized permissions.

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 IBM security patch for CVE-2021-29686 (consult IBM Fix Central for PSIRT bundle). Review and test role-based access control (RBAC) configurations to ensure proper enforcement after patching. Verify that users can only access permitted functions within their assigned roles.

Fix this in Security Identity Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,760
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-29686 — 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-2021-29686 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