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CVE Record

CVE-2020-4300: IBM Cognos Analytics 11.0 and 11.1 is vulnerable to an XML External Entity Injection (XXE) attack when proc...

IBM Cognos Analytics 11.0 and 11.1 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. IBM X-Force ID: 176607.

HighCVSS 8.2Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysishigh

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

IBM Cognos Analytics 11.0 and 11.1 can mishandle XML input. A remote attacker could use this XXE flaw to expose sensitive information or consume memory resources, potentially affecting confidentiality and service stability.

Executive priority

Prioritize remediation where Cognos supports reporting, analytics, or business decision workflows. The primary business risk is sensitive data exposure, with a secondary risk of degraded service from memory consumption.

Technical view

CVE-2020-4300 is an XML External Entity injection issue in IBM Cognos Analytics 11.0 and 11.1 when processing XML data. The CVSS 3.0 score is 8.2, with network attack vector, no privileges, no user interaction, high confidentiality impact, and low availability impact.

Likely exposure

Organizations running IBM Cognos Analytics 11.0 or 11.1 are the stated exposure group. Risk is higher where Cognos XML-processing functionality is reachable by untrusted users or networks.

Exploitation context

The provided bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or any cited evidence of active exploitation. Treat this as a serious remotely reachable vulnerability, but do not claim observed exploitation from these sources.

Researcher notes

The source bundle does not identify a specific endpoint, parser, proof of concept, or fixed version. Use the IBM advisory and X-Force entry as authoritative references, and avoid extrapolating affected versions beyond 11.0 and 11.1.

Mitigation direction

  • Review IBM’s advisory for the supported remediation or fixed release guidance.
  • Inventory and prioritize remediation for Cognos Analytics 11.0 and 11.1 deployments.
  • Limit access to Cognos interfaces from untrusted networks until vendor guidance is applied.
  • Review NetApp’s advisory if NetApp-managed products are part of the Cognos deployment path.

Validation and detection

  • Confirm whether IBM Cognos Analytics 11.0 or 11.1 is deployed.
  • Map which Cognos interfaces process XML data and who can reach them.
  • Verify IBM advisory remediation has been applied or formally tracked.
  • Check logs and monitoring for XML parsing errors or unusual memory consumption.
Prepared
Confidence
high
Sources
5

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-2020-4300 mapping review

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
High
CVSS
8.2 (3.0)
Known Exploited
No
Published

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

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
4Source 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
8.2CVSS 3.0HighCVSS:3.0/AV:N/UI:N/A:L/AC:L/C:H/PR:N/S:U/I:N/E:U/RL:O/RC:C3.94.2Primary CVE score

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.0 score

8.2High
CVSS 3.0 vector shape for CVE-2020-4300Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

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

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
IBMCognos Analytics11.0, 11.1Listed
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

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