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CVE Record

CVE-2021-38878: IBM QRadar 7.3, 7.4, and 7.5 could allow a malicious actor to impersonate an actor due to key exchange with...

IBM QRadar 7.3, 7.4, and 7.5 could allow a malicious actor to impersonate an actor due to key exchange without entity authentication. IBM X-Force ID: 208756.

MediumCVSS 5.9Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

IBM QRadar could fail to properly verify identity during key exchange, letting a malicious actor impersonate another party. The main business risk is trust and integrity damage inside a security monitoring platform, not data theft or outage based on the provided CVSS details.

Executive priority

Treat as a scheduled security remediation for QRadar environments, with higher priority where QRadar is broadly reachable or central to compliance monitoring. The risk is moderate because exploitation is not reported, but successful impersonation could undermine SIEM trust decisions.

Technical view

IBM QRadar SIEM versions 7.3.3, 7.4.3, and 7.5.0 are affected by key exchange without entity authentication. CVSS 3.0 is 5.9 with network attack vector, high attack complexity, no privileges or user interaction, and high integrity impact only.

Likely exposure

Exposure is limited to organizations running IBM QRadar SIEM 7.3.3, 7.4.3, or 7.5.0. Internet exposure is not established by the sources; validate actual QRadar deployment topology and management-plane reachability.

Exploitation context

The source bundle does not report active exploitation, and CISA KEV status is false. CVSS marks exploit code maturity as unproven and attack complexity as high, which lowers urgency but does not remove the integrity risk.

Researcher notes

Evidence is thin beyond IBM and CVE records. No CWE is listed, and the bundle does not provide patch version details or exploit observations. Focus validation on affected-version confirmation, advisory tracking, and whether QRadar trust boundaries are exposed.

Mitigation direction

  • Identify QRadar SIEM instances and confirm exact versions.
  • Review IBM advisory for the vendor-supported remediation path.
  • Apply IBM-recommended fixes or upgrades for affected versions.
  • Restrict network access to QRadar interfaces to trusted administrative paths.
  • Monitor IBM X-Force and QRadar support pages for updated guidance.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory QRadar appliances and record installed version numbers.
  • Compare versions against 7.3.3, 7.4.3, and 7.5.0.
  • Confirm whether IBM advisory remediation has been applied.
  • Review access controls around QRadar network interfaces.
  • Document compensating controls if remediation cannot be immediate.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
4

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-2021-38878 mapping review

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Medium
CVSS
5.9 (3.0)
Known Exploited
No
Published

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

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
3Source 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
5.9CVSS 3.0MediumCVSS:3.0/PR:N/S:U/I:H/A:N/UI:N/C:N/AV:N/AC:H/RC:C/E:U/RL:O2.23.6Primary CVE score

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.0 score

5.9Medium
CVSS 3.0 vector shape for CVE-2021-38878Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

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

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
IBMQRadar SIEM7.3.3, 7.4.3, 7.5.0Listed
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

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