dbcve.org
Cognos ControllerApplication · Ibm

CVE-2024-41777

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-12-03
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 Cognos Controller 11.0.0 and 11.0.1 contains hard-coded credentials, such as a password or cryptographic key, which it uses for its own inbound authentication, outbound communication to external components, or encryption of internal data.

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 Cognos Controller versions 11.0.0 and 11.0.1 contain hard-coded credentials (passwords or cryptographic keys) embedded in the application code or configuration. These credentials are used for inbound authentication, outbound communication to external systems, or encryption of internal data. An attacker who discovers these credentials could potentially authenticate to the system, access connected external components, or decrypt sensitive data.

MitigationReplace all hard-coded credentials with properly managed secrets using secure methods such as environment variables, credential vaults, or IBM Cognos Controller's built-in security features. Apply vendor patches or updates provided by IBM for Cognos Controller to address this 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
Cognos ControllerApplication
Affected:= 11.0.0= 11.0.1

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

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. Verify IBM Cognos Controller version
    Check the installed version of IBM Cognos Controller in your environment. This is typically found in the product's about section, installation directory, or version information file (often named version.txt, about.html, or accessible via the Administration > System > About menu in the web interface).
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 11.0.0 or 11.0.1.
  2. Locate configuration files with embedded passwords
    Search the Cognos Controller installation directory and configuration folders (commonly under the /configuration or /c10_location/.. /templates/.. directory structure) for XML, INI, or properties files. Inspect these files for cleartext password strings or suspicious hard-coded credential patterns (look for elements like <password>, password=, Password=, encryptedPassword=, or similar).
    Affected if Any configuration file contains hard-coded passwords that appear in plain text or are weakly encoded.
  3. Inspect application code or script files for credentials
    Examine batch files, shell scripts, or executable configuration files within the Cognos Controller installation directory for embedded credentials. Look for hard-coded user IDs, passwords, or API keys used for database connections, external system connections, or administrative access.
    Affected if Script or configuration files contain hard-coded usernames and passwords used for system access or connectivity.
  4. Check for hard-coded encryption keys
    Review configuration files related to data encryption, session security, or internal data protection. Look for hard-coded cryptographic keys, encryption seeds, or key material that is not externally managed through a vault or secure keystore.
    Affected if Encryption-related configuration files contain hard-coded keys rather than referencing external secret management.
  5. Review external system connection configurations
    Examine configurations for outbound connections to external systems (databases, LDAP directories, third-party integrations). Verify whether credentials stored for these connections are dynamically retrieved from a secure vault or are hard-coded in configuration files.
    Affected if Credentials for external system connections are stored directly in configuration files rather than retrieved from a secure credential vault.

Your environment is affected if IBM Cognos Controller version 11.0.0 or 11.0.1 is installed AND any configuration files, scripts, or application code contain hard-coded credentials used for authentication, encryption, or external system connectivity.

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

Replace all hard-coded credentials with properly managed secrets using secure methods such as environment variables, credential vaults, or IBM Cognos Controller's built-in security features. Apply vendor patches or updates provided by IBM for Cognos Controller to address this vulnerability.

Fix this in Cognos Controller Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
44.0 hours of engineering $7,720
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $12,352.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-41777 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2024-41777 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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.

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