Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2020-5014 affects IBM DataPower Gateway and requires local administrative privileges. A successful attacker could execute arbitrary code, creating serious impact despite the high privilege requirement. This is a medium-severity issue mainly relevant where DataPower appliances or images are still on affected releases.
Executive priority
Prioritize remediation where DataPower supports sensitive applications, regulated data flows, or externally critical services. The required administrator privilege lowers likelihood, but arbitrary code execution with high impact makes delayed remediation risky in environments with broad or weakly controlled admin access.
Technical view
IBM describes an arbitrary code execution issue in DataPower Gateway V10 and V2018 using a server-side request forgery condition. The CVSS v3.0 score is 6.7 with local attack vector, low complexity, no user interaction, high privileges required, and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to IBM DataPower Gateway deployments on listed versions: 2018.4.1.0, 2018.4.1.14, 10.0.0.0, and 10.0.1.1. The practical risk depends heavily on who has local administrative access to those systems.
Exploitation context
The bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. The CVSS vector indicates exploit maturity was unproven at publication. Treat this as important for privileged-access environments, but do not assume internet-scale exploitation from the supplied evidence.
Researcher notes
No CWE is provided in the bundle. The root condition is described as SSRF leading to arbitrary code execution, but the sources supplied do not include exploit mechanics. Avoid assuming affected builds beyond the listed versions or fixed builds beyond IBM guidance.
Mitigation direction
- Review IBM advisory 6426789 and X-Force 193247 for official remediation details.
- Upgrade affected DataPower Gateway deployments following IBM-supported guidance.
- Restrict local administrative access to trusted operators only.
- Review privileged accounts and remove unnecessary administrative access.
- Monitor DataPower systems for unusual administrative activity.
Validation and detection
- Inventory all IBM DataPower Gateway V10 and V2018 deployments.
- Compare installed versions against the affected versions in the source bundle.
- Confirm whether each affected system has applied IBM-recommended remediation.
- Review local administrative access paths and privileged user assignments.
- Check security logs for suspicious administrative actions.
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
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
Execution behavior lookup
The CVE wording references code or command execution, so execution technique review may help defensive triage. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2020-5014 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 6.7 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/C:H/A:H/AV:L/S:U/I:H/AC:L/UI:N/PR:H/RC:C/E:U/RL:O
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/C:H/A:H/AV:L/S:U/I:H/AC:L/UI:N/PR:H/RC:C/E:U/RL:O0.85.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
6.7MediumVector: CVSS:3.0/C:H/A:H/AV:L/S:U/I:H/AC:L/UI:N/PR:H/RC:C/E:U/RL:O
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6426789CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- ibm-datapower-cve20205014-ssrf (193247)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.