Engineering Lifecycle Optimization Engineering InsightsApplication · Ibm

CVE-2024-39726

HIGH · 8.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-11-15
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
91/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 Engineering Lifecycle Optimization - Engineering Insights 7.0.2 and 7.0.3 is vulnerable to an XML External Entity Injection (XXE) attack when processing XML data. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to expose sensitive information or consume memory resources.

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 Engineering Lifecycle Optimization - Engineering Insights versions 7.0.2 and 7.0.3 are vulnerable to XML External Entity Injection (XXE) when processing XML data. A remote attacker can exploit this to read sensitive files from the server file system or cause memory exhaustion through entity expansion attacks.

MitigationApply IBM's security patch for this vulnerability and configure XML parsers to disable external entity processing and DTD processing. If no patch is available, validate and sanitize all XML input before parsing.

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
Engineering Lifecycle Optimization Engineering InsightsApplication
Affected:= 7.0.2= 7.0.3

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
Low

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

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. Confirm installed version
    Locate the Engineering Insights version information through the product's about page, version manifest, or installation directory readme. Common locations include the admin console or installation logs.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 7.0.2 or exactly 7.0.3
  2. Identify XML processing endpoints
    Review available REST APIs or web services that accept XML input. Check application routing or service documentation for endpoints that process XML data.
    Affected if The application exposes endpoints that accept and parse XML data from external sources
  3. Check XML parser configuration
    Examine XML parser settings in the application configuration files or deployment descriptors. Look for settings related to entity processing, doctype handling, or external entity resolution.
    Affected if XML parser is configured to allow external entity processing or doctype declarations
  4. Verify XML input handling
    Inspect how the application handles XML input in upload forms, API requests, or data import features. Test if the application parses XML without disabling external entities.
    Affected if The application processes XML input without disabling external entity expansion

You are affected if running Engineering Insights version 7.0.2 or 7.0.3 and the application accepts XML data through accessible endpoints with an unhardened XML parser.

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 security patch for this vulnerability and configure XML parsers to disable external entity processing and DTD processing. If no patch is available, validate and sanitize all XML input before parsing.

Fix this in Engineering Lifecycle Optimization Engineering Insights 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-2024-39726 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