Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
IBM DataPower Gateway appliances can expose a built-in administrator account when the IPMI LAN channel is enabled. A remote attacker could use that account to access the baseboard management controller, creating a serious risk to confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the appliance management plane.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority infrastructure management-plane issue. Prioritize internet-facing or broadly reachable management networks first, then complete inventory and IBM remediation across remaining affected DataPower appliances.
Technical view
CVE-2019-4621 affects IBM DataPower Gateway 7.6.0.0 through 7.6.0.14 and 2018.4.1.0 through 2018.4.1.5. The issue is a default administrator account enabled when IPMI LAN is enabled, allowing unauthenticated remote access to the BMC under high-complexity conditions. CVSS v3.0 score is 8.1.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where affected IBM DataPower Gateway versions run with IPMI LAN enabled and the BMC reachable from enterprise or management networks. Appliances without IPMI LAN enabled, or with tightly isolated management networks, appear less exposed based on the provided sources.
Exploitation context
The provided bundle does not show active exploitation, and KEV status is false. The CVSS vector indicates network attack surface, no privileges, no user interaction, high attack complexity, and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Researcher notes
The key exposure condition is IPMI LAN enablement. The sources do not provide exploit details, observed exploitation, or CWE classification. Validation should focus on version range, BMC exposure, account state, and IBM advisory alignment rather than speculative product behavior.
Mitigation direction
- Review IBM advisory for exact affected and fixed levels.
- Apply IBM-provided remediation or upgrade guidance for DataPower Gateway.
- Disable IPMI LAN if it is not operationally required.
- Restrict BMC access to trusted management networks only.
- Audit and remove or disable default administrative access per IBM guidance.
Validation and detection
- Inventory DataPower Gateway versions against the affected ranges.
- Confirm whether IPMI LAN is enabled on each appliance.
- Verify BMC network reachability from untrusted or broad internal networks.
- Review BMC accounts for default administrative access.
- Check logs for unexpected BMC authentication or management activity.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
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-2019-4621 mapping review
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Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 8.1 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/I:H/UI:N/S:U/AV:N/PR:N/C:H/AC:H/A:H/RL:O/E:U/RC:C
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.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe 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.
CVSS:3.0/I:H/UI:N/S:U/AV:N/PR:N/C:H/AC:H/A:H/RL:O/E:U/RC:C2.25.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
8.1HighVector: CVSS:3.0/I:H/UI:N/S:U/AV:N/PR:N/C:H/AC:H/A:H/RL:O/E:U/RC:C
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/1125615CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- ibm-mq-cve20194621-sec-bypass (168883)CVE reference · vdb-entry, x_refsource_XF
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.