CVE-2023-38009
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 Mobile Client 1.1 iOS may be vulnerable to information disclosure through man in the middle techniques due to the lack of certificate pinning.
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 Mobile Client 1.1 iOS does not implement certificate pinning, allowing an attacker performing a man-in-the-middle attack to intercept communications and access sensitive data transmitted between the mobile client and backend servers.
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= 1.1CVSS 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.
-
Identify IBM Cognos Mobile Client installation on iOSOn the iOS device, go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage (or Apps), then scroll to find IBM Cognos Mobile Client, or search for it in the app library. Alternatively, check if the app icon labeled 'Cognos' or 'IBM Cognos' exists on the device home screen.Affected if The app IBM Cognos Mobile Client is installed on any iOS device in the organization
-
Verify the installed version is 1.1In iOS Settings, tap on IBM Cognos Mobile Client (or Cognos), then scroll to view the Version or Version Information field. Alternatively, open the App Store, go to the app page, and check the version number under the app name.Affected if The displayed version number is exactly 1.1
-
Confirm certificate pinning is not implementedCapture network traffic from the iOS device using a proxy tool (such as Burp Suite or Charles Proxy) configured with a self-signed certificate. Attempt to intercept traffic between the Cognos Mobile Client and its backend. If the traffic is readable or the connection succeeds through the proxy without certificate validation errors, certificate pinning is not implemented.Affected if Network traffic can be intercepted through a proxy with a self-signed certificate, indicating certificate pinning is absent
The environment is affected if IBM Cognos Mobile Client version 1.1 is installed on iOS devices and network traffic can be intercepted via a man-in-the-middle proxy, confirming the absence of certificate pinning.
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 dataImplement certificate pinning in the iOS application to validate that the server's certificate matches a known, trusted certificate or certificate chain.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,960.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-38009 — 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-2023-38009 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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