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CVE Record

CVE-2021-20461: IBM Cognos Analytics 10.0 and 11.1 is susceptible to a weakness in the implementation of the System Appeara...

IBM Cognos Analytics 10.0 and 11.1 is susceptible to a weakness in the implementation of the System Appearance configuration setting. An attacker could potentially bypass business logic to modify the appearance and behavior of the application. IBM X-Force ID: 196770.

MediumCVSS 4.3Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

CVE-2021-20461 affects IBM Cognos Analytics and concerns the System Appearance configuration. A logged-in attacker could potentially bypass intended business logic and change how the application looks or behaves. This is an integrity issue, not a confidentiality or availability issue, and the published CVSS score is 4.3.

Executive priority

Treat as a moderate-priority remediation item. It is unlikely to drive emergency response by itself, but it can affect trust in analytics portals and should be handled during normal vulnerability management, especially on shared or broadly accessible Cognos deployments.

Technical view

The CVSS vector indicates network access, low attack complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, unchanged scope, and low integrity impact. The source bundle identifies IBM Cognos Analytics 11.0 and 11.1 as affected, while the title text mentions 10.0 and 11.1; validate versions against IBM guidance.

Likely exposure

Exposure is most relevant where IBM Cognos Analytics is deployed and reachable by authenticated users. Organizations should inventory Cognos Analytics 11.0 and 11.1, and verify whether 10.0 is included based on IBM advisory details.

Exploitation context

The bundle does not cite active exploitation, and the CVE is not listed as KEV. Exploitation requires authentication with low privileges, based on the CVSS vector. Public details describe impact at a business-logic level without exploit steps.

Researcher notes

Key uncertainty is affected-version consistency: the bundle’s affected list says 11.0 and 11.1, while the title says 10.0 and 11.1. IBM X-Force ID 196770 is the vendor tracking reference. No CWE is provided in the bundle.

Mitigation direction

  • Review IBM advisory 6466729 for fixed versions or configuration guidance.
  • Apply vendor-recommended updates or mitigations for affected Cognos Analytics deployments.
  • Check NetApp advisory applicability if Cognos components are embedded in NetApp-managed environments.
  • Restrict Cognos access to trusted authenticated users while remediation is pending.
  • Monitor for unauthorized System Appearance or behavior changes.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory IBM Cognos Analytics versions across production and non-production environments.
  • Confirm whether deployed versions match IBM’s affected-version list.
  • Review Cognos configuration audit logs for System Appearance changes.
  • Verify vendor fixes or mitigations are applied after maintenance.
  • Document any version ambiguity between 10.0, 11.0, and 11.1.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
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-2021-20461 mapping review

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Medium
CVSS
4.3 (3.0)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/C:N/A:N/I:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/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
4.3CVSS 3.0MediumCVSS:3.0/AV:N/C:N/A:N/I:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/E:U/RL:O/RC:C2.81.4Primary CVE score

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.0 score

4.3Medium
CVSS 3.0 vector shape for CVE-2021-20461Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/C:N/A:N/I:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/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.