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Sterling Connect\Application · Ibm

CVE-2021-38890

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-11-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.2.0.1 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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 Sterling Connect:Direct Web Services 1.0 and 6.0 uses an inadequate account lockout setting that could allow a remote attacker to brute force account credentials. IBM X-Force ID: 209507.

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

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

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
Sterling Connect\Application
Affected:>= 6.0.0, < 6.2.0.1

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
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.2.0.1 or later
Fixed in 6.2.0.1
Vendor patch www.ibm.com →
Recommended fix Moderate confidence

6.2.0.1

  1. 1. Review the IBM support page at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6518586 for the complete security patch details and installation instructions.
  2. 2. Download IBM Sterling Connect:Direct version 6.2.0.1 or later from the IBM Fix Central or authorized distribution channels.
  3. 3. Review the IBM Sterling Connect:Direct 6.2.0.1 release notes for any prerequisites, migration considerations, or special installation instructions.
  4. 4. Perform a full backup of the current IBM Sterling Connect:Direct configuration, including configuration files, keys, and any custom settings.
  5. 5. Schedule a maintenance window appropriate for production systems.
  6. 6. Stop the IBM Sterling Connect:Direct services according to the product documentation.
  7. 7. Install the upgraded version 6.2.0.1 following the IBM-provided installation guide.
  8. 8. Verify the installation completed successfully by checking service status and reviewing installation logs.
Caveat Review release notes for any configuration or behavioral changes between 6.0.0-6.1.x and 6.2.0.1; some settings may need adjustment

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

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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-2021-38890 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