Sterling External Authentication ServerApplication · Ibm

CVE-2022-22336

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-02-23
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges 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 Sterling External Authentication Server and IBM Sterling Secure Proxy 6.0.3.0, 6.0.2.0, and 3.4.3.2 could allow a remote user to consume resources causing a denial of service due to a resource leak. IBM X-Force ID: 219395.

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 Sterling External Authentication Server and IBM Sterling Secure Proxy versions 6.0.3.0, 6.0.2.0, and 3.4.3.2 contain a resource leak vulnerability that allows remote attackers to consume excessive resources, leading to denial of service conditions.

MitigationApply IBM's published security patches or upgrade to a fixed version of the affected Sterling products to remediate the resource leak vulnerability.

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
Sterling External Authentication ServerApplication
Affected:= 3.4.3.2= 6.0.2.0= 6.0.3.0
Sterling Secure ProxyApplication
Affected:= 3.4.3.2= 6.0.2= 6.0.3.0

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 Sterling product
    Locate the IBM Sterling application on your system and determine whether it is Sterling External Authentication Server or Sterling Secure Proxy. Check installation directories, running services, or consult system inventory tools.
    Affected if The system has either IBM Sterling External Authentication Server or IBM Sterling Secure Proxy installed
  2. Determine the installed version number
    Check the version of the installed IBM Sterling product. Typical methods include: reviewing installation logs, checking product documentation, running version commands specific to the product, or inspecting version files in the product installation directory.
    Affected if The installed version matches 3.4.3.2, 6.0.2.0, or 6.0.3.0 for Sterling External Authentication Server; or 3.4.3.2, 6.0.2, or 6.0.3.0 for Sterling Secure Proxy
  3. Compare against affected version ranges
    Compare your confirmed installed version to the affected versions listed: for Sterling External Authentication Server versions 3.4.3.2, 6.0.2.0, 6.0.3.0; for Sterling Secure Proxy versions 3.4.3.2, 6.0.2, 6.0.3.0.
    Affected if Your installed version exactly matches one of the affected versions listed in the CVE
  4. Monitor for resource consumption anomalies
    Observe system resource usage for the IBM Sterling service. Check for unusual spikes in CPU usage, memory consumption, network connections, or file descriptors that may indicate the resource leak is being exploited.
    Affected if The system shows excessive resource consumption tied to the IBM Sterling service that cannot be explained by normal workload

Your environment is affected if you have IBM Sterling External Authentication Server or IBM Sterling Secure Proxy installed and the installed version exactly matches 3.4.3.2, 6.0.2.0, 6.0.2, or 6.0.3.0.

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 IBM's published security patches or upgrade to a fixed version of the affected Sterling products to remediate the resource leak vulnerability.

Fix this in Sterling External Authentication Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2022-22336 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