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CVE Record

CVE-2018-1791: IBM Connections 5.0, 5.5, and 6.0 is vulnerable to an External Service Interaction attack, caused by improp...

IBM Connections 5.0, 5.5, and 6.0 is vulnerable to an External Service Interaction attack, caused by improper validation of a request property. By submitting suitable payloads, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability to induce the Connections server to attack other systems. IBM X-Force ID: 148946.

MediumCVSS 4.9Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

CVE-2018-1791 affects IBM Connections 5.0, 5.5, and 6.0. An authenticated attacker could abuse improper request-property validation to make the Connections server interact with other systems. Business urgency is moderate: it is remotely reachable but high-complexity, requires low privileges, and is not listed in KEV.

Executive priority

Treat as a moderate-priority remediation item. Prioritize if IBM Connections is internet-facing, broadly accessible to users, or allowed to reach sensitive internal systems through outbound network paths.

Technical view

The issue is an External Service Interaction weakness in IBM Connections caused by improper validation of a request property. CVSS 3.0 is 4.9 with network attack vector, high attack complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, changed scope, low confidentiality impact, and low availability impact.

Likely exposure

Exposure is most likely in organizations still running IBM Connections 5.0, 5.5, or 6.0, especially where authenticated users can reach the application and the server has outbound network access to internal or external systems.

Exploitation context

The provided sources do not show known active exploitation, and the CVE is not marked as CISA KEV. Exploitation is described only at a high level: suitable payloads could induce the Connections server to attack other systems.

Researcher notes

Evidence is limited to CVE, IBM, and X-Force metadata. The source bundle does not provide exploit details, affected configurations beyond versions, or concrete patch identifiers. Validate through vendor advisory and environment-specific exposure review.

Mitigation direction

  • Review IBM advisory ibm10731207 for official remediation details.
  • Apply IBM's vendor-provided fix or upgrade path for affected releases.
  • Limit IBM Connections access to trusted authenticated users.
  • Restrict unnecessary outbound traffic from Connections servers.
  • Monitor for unusual outbound service interactions from Connections hosts.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory IBM Connections instances and confirm version numbers.
  • Check whether versions 5.0, 5.5, or 6.0 remain deployed.
  • Confirm IBM's advisory remediation has been applied.
  • Review egress controls for Connections application servers.
  • Inspect logs for unexpected outbound requests from Connections hosts.
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.

ATT&CK lookup starting points

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CVE-2018-1791 mapping review

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Medium
CVSS
4.9 (3.0)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:3.0/A:L/AC:H/AV:N/C:L/I:N/PR:L/S:C/UI:N/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
4.9CVSS 3.0MediumCVSS:3.0/A:L/AC:H/AV:N/C:L/I:N/PR:L/S:C/UI:N/E:U/RC:C/RL:O1.82.7Primary CVE score

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.0 score

4.9Medium
CVSS 3.0 vector shape for CVE-2018-1791Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.0/A:L/AC:H/AV:N/C:L/I:N/PR:L/S:C/UI:N/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
IBMConnections5.0, 5.5, 6.0Listed
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

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