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CVE Record

CVE-2018-1539: IBM Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager 5.0 through 5.02 and 6.0 through 6.0.6 could allow remote attack...

IBM Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager 5.0 through 5.02 and 6.0 through 6.0.6 could allow remote attackers to bypass authentication via a direct request or forced browsing to a page other than URL intended. IBM X-Force ID: 142561.

MediumCVSS 5.4Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

IBM Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager versions 5.0 through 5.02 and 6.0 through 6.0.6 could let a remote user bypass authentication by directly requesting unintended pages. The impact is limited confidentiality and integrity exposure, not system takeover. Treat this as a moderate risk where affected RELM instances manage sensitive engineering lifecycle data.

Executive priority

Prioritize remediation where RELM supports regulated, confidential, or business-critical engineering workflows. This is not rated critical, but an authentication bypass in a lifecycle management platform can expose sensitive project information and should not remain unresolved on reachable systems.

Technical view

CVE-2018-1539 is a forced-browsing authentication bypass in IBM Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager. The listed CVSS v3.0 score is 5.4 with network attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, user interaction required, changed scope, and low confidentiality and integrity impact. IBM X-Force tracks it as ID 142561.

Likely exposure

Exposure is limited to organizations running IBM Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager 5.0, 5.01, 5.02, or 6.0 through 6.0.6. Internet-facing or broadly reachable RELM portals are more concerning, especially where they store or expose engineering project data.

Exploitation context

The supplied sources do not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. The CVSS exploit code maturity is listed as unproven. The issue is still relevant for legacy RELM deployments that were not updated or retired after IBM's advisory.

Researcher notes

The public bundle identifies affected versions and vulnerability class but does not provide detailed vulnerable endpoints, proof of exploitation, or concrete patch version names. Avoid assuming broader IBM product impact. Validate only through inventory, configuration review, vendor advisory status, and non-invasive access-control testing.

Mitigation direction

  • Identify all IBM Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager deployments and versions.
  • Compare versions against 5.0 through 5.02 and 6.0 through 6.0.6.
  • Review IBM's advisory for official remediation before changing production systems.
  • Prioritize vendor-supported upgrade, fix, or retirement for affected deployments.
  • Restrict network access to RELM where exposure cannot be immediately remediated.

Validation and detection

  • Confirm RELM version and build from asset records or administrative interfaces.
  • Check whether affected RELM instances are internet-facing or broadly reachable internally.
  • Verify IBM advisory remediation status for each affected deployment.
  • Review access logs for unusual direct requests to protected pages.
  • Document residual exposure where legacy versions must remain operational.
Prepared
Confidence
high
Sources
4

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.

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CVE-2018-1539 mapping review

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Medium
CVSS
5.4 (3.0)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:3.0/A:N/AC:L/AV:N/C:L/I:L/PR:L/S:C/UI:R/E:U/RC:C/RL:O

Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

1CVSS vectors
0Timeline events
0ADP providers
3Source links

CVSS vector scores

1 official score

We collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
5.4CVSS 3.0MediumCVSS:3.0/A:N/AC:L/AV:N/C:L/I:L/PR:L/S:C/UI:R/E:U/RC:C/RL:O2.32.7Primary CVE score

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.0 score

5.4Medium
CVSS 3.0 vector shape for CVE-2018-1539Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.0/A:N/AC:L/AV:N/C:L/I:L/PR:L/S:C/UI:R/E:U/RC:C/RL:O

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NoneRequired
Scope
ChangedUnchanged
Confidentiality Impact
HighLowNone
Integrity Impact
HighLowNone
Availability Impact
HighLowNone

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
IBMRational Engineering Lifecycle Manager5.0, 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.2, 6.0.3, 6.0.4, 6.0.5, 6.0.6, 5.01, 5.02Listed
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.