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CVE Record

CVE-2020-4854: IBM Spectrum Protect Plus 10.1.0 thorugh 10.1.6 contains hard-coded credentials, such as a password or cryp...

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus 10.1.0 thorugh 10.1.6 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. IBM X-Force ID: 190454.

CriticalCVSS 9.8Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysiscritical

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus versions 10.1.0 through 10.1.6 contain hard-coded credentials or cryptographic material. If exposed, an attacker may bypass expected trust boundaries and affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability of backup infrastructure. Because backups are high-value recovery systems, this is a business-critical issue even without confirmed exploitation.

Executive priority

Treat this as urgent for environments using IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, because backup platforms protect recovery capability and may hold sensitive data. Prioritize inventory, vendor remediation, and exposure reduction.

Technical view

The CVE describes hard-coded credentials used for inbound authentication, outbound communication to external components, or internal data encryption. CVSS 3.0 is 9.8: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges, and no user interaction, with high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.

Likely exposure

Exposure is limited to IBM Spectrum Protect Plus deployments running versions 10.1.0 through 10.1.6. Internet-reachable or broadly reachable management and backup network services would carry higher operational risk.

Exploitation context

The supplied sources do not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. The CVSS vector marks exploit maturity as unproven, but unauthenticated network reachability makes validation and remediation urgent.

Researcher notes

Evidence in the bundle identifies the affected product range and high-level hard-coded credential issue, but not detailed CWE, vulnerable component internals, or specific fixed version. Avoid assumptions beyond IBM and Tenable references.

Mitigation direction

  • Inventory IBM Spectrum Protect Plus versions across backup environments.
  • Review IBM support advisory 6367823 for official remediation guidance.
  • Apply the IBM-provided fix or upgrade path for affected releases.
  • Restrict network access to Spectrum Protect Plus management and service interfaces.
  • Review whether related secrets or integrations need rotation after remediation.

Validation and detection

  • Confirm whether any deployment runs version 10.1.0 through 10.1.6.
  • Check IBM advisory applicability against installed build and configuration.
  • Verify patched systems are no longer in the affected version range.
  • Confirm management interfaces are not internet-exposed.
  • Review authentication and integration logs for unexplained activity.
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

Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.

description · low confidence lookup

Credential and access behavior lookup

The CVE wording references authentication or credential exposure, so valid-account and credential-access review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.

Open ATT&CK lookup
cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2020-4854 mapping review

Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Critical
CVSS
9.8 (3.0)
Known Exploited
No
Published

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

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
9.8CVSS 3.0CriticalCVSS:3.0/UI:N/PR:N/S:U/I:H/A:H/C:H/AC:L/AV:N/RC:C/RL:O/E:U3.95.9Primary CVE score

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.0 score

9.8Critical
CVSS 3.0 vector shape for CVE-2020-4854Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

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

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
IBMSpectrum Protect Plus10.1.0, 10.1.6Listed
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

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