Sterling Connect\Application · Ibm

CVE-2021-38933

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-07-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.5.0.1609 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 for UNIX 1.5 uses weaker than expected cryptographic algorithms that could allow an attacker to decrypt highly sensitive information. IBM X-Force ID: 210574.

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:< 1.5.0.1609

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 1.5.0.1609 or later
Fixed in 1.5.0.1609
Vendor patch www.ibm.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for UNIX 1.5.0.1609 or later

  1. 1. Identify the current version of IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for UNIX by running the appropriate version check command or checking the installation
  2. 2. Review IBM's upgrade documentation and release notes for version 1.5.0.1609
  3. 3. Plan and schedule the upgrade during a maintenance window
  4. 4. Perform a full backup of the current Sterling Connect:Direct for UNIX installation, configuration files, and any custom settings
  5. 5. Follow IBM's official upgrade procedure to upgrade to version 1.5.0.1609 or later, following all pre-requisites
  6. 6. After upgrade, verify the version has been correctly installed
  7. 7. Validate that the cryptographic configurations now meet stronger security standards
  8. 8. Test critical file transfer workflows to ensure normal operation
Caveat Review IBM release notes for any configuration or behavioral changes between your current version and 1.5.0.1609

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

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,950. Get the upgrade done

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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-2021-38933 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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