Maximo Application SuiteApplication · Ibm

CVE-2023-27861

MEDIUM · 5.9 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-06-05
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 Maximo Application Suite - Manage Component 8.8.0 and 8.9.0 transmits sensitive information in cleartext that could be intercepted by an attacker using man in the middle techniques. IBM X-Force ID: 249208.

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 Maximo Application Suite Manage Component versions 8.8.0 and 8.9.0 transmit sensitive information in cleartext without encryption, allowing a man-in-the-middle attacker to intercept and read sensitive data being communicated between clients and the server.

MitigationEnable TLS encryption for all sensitive data transmission, configure the application to use HTTPS exclusively, and ensure valid SSL certificates are properly installed and enforced.

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
Maximo Application SuiteApplication
Affected:= 8.8.0= 8.9.0

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the installed Maximo Application Suite version
    Access the Maximo administration console or check the installed packages using the version lookup command specific to the installation method (e.g., ps -ef | grep maximo, or check the installation directory for version files)
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 8.8.0 or exactly 8.9.0
  2. Verify HTTPS is enabled for the Manage component
    Inspect the IBM Maximo configuration files (such as maximo.properties or web.xml) and check if the server is configured to require HTTPS connections. Look for properties like 'mxe.webui.protocol' set to 'https' or similar SSL enforcement settings
    Affected if HTTPS is not enforced or the protocol is set to HTTP for sensitive endpoints
  3. Check SSL/TLS certificate configuration
    Examine the application server (typically WebSphere or Liberty) SSL configuration. Verify that valid SSL certificates are installed and that the server is configured to reject non-encrypted connections
    Affected if No valid SSL certificate is configured or cleartext HTTP listeners are active for sensitive services
  4. Capture network traffic to confirm encryption status
    Use a network packet capture tool (such as tcpdump or Wireshark) on the client-server communication path to inspect whether sensitive data (login credentials, personal information, business data) is transmitted in plaintext versus encrypted TLS packets
    Affected if Sensitive data is observed being transmitted in cleartext over HTTP rather than encrypted HTTPS traffic

You are affected if your IBM Maximo Application Suite Manage component is version 8.8.0 or 8.9.0 AND sensitive data is transmitted over unencrypted HTTP connections instead of HTTPS with proper TLS.

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

Enable TLS encryption for all sensitive data transmission, configure the application to use HTTPS exclusively, and ensure valid SSL certificates are properly installed and enforced.

Fix this in Maximo Application Suite Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2023-27861 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