CVE-2021-29892
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 Cognos Controller 11.0.0 and 11.0.1 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.
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 Cognos Controller versions 11.0.0 and 11.0.1 fail to enable HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), which allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information via man-in-the-middle techniques by downgrading HTTPS connections to HTTP.
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= 11.0.0= 11.0.1CVSS 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 IBM Cognos Controller installation and versionLocate the IBM Cognos Controller installation directory and check the version information file or product details. Common locations include the installation root folder or the CCM (Cognos Configuration Manager) product information.Affected if The installed version is exactly 11.0.0 or 11.0.1
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Verify web server type serving Cognos ControllerIdentify which web server is fronting IBM Cognos Controller (IIS, Apache, or IBM HTTP Server). Check the web server configuration files for the Cognos Controller web application.Affected if Any web server is serving Cognos Controller without HSTS configuration
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Check web server for HSTS header configurationInspect the web server configuration file (such as httpd.conf, ibmhttpd.conf, or IIS web.config) for the Strict-Transport-Security header directive. This may appear as 'Header always set Strict-Transport-Security' or similar.Affected if The Strict-Transport-Security header is not present or not configured with a valid max-age value
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Test for HSTS header in HTTP responseUse a browser developer tool or command-line tool (curl -I) to send an HTTPS request to the Cognos Controller URL and examine the response headers for the Strict-Transport-Security header.Affected if The Strict-Transport-Security header is missing from HTTPS responses
The environment is affected if IBM Cognos Controller version 11.0.0 or 11.0.1 is installed AND the web server is not configured to send the Strict-Transport-Security header in HTTPS responses.
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 dataEnable HSTS on the IBM Cognos Controller web server by configuring the Strict-Transport-Security header with an appropriate max-age directive.
- Consultation2.0 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-2021-29892 — 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-2021-29892 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
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