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CVE Record

CVE-2021-38886: IBM Cognos Analytics 11.1.7, 11.2.0, and 11.1.7 is vulnerable to cross-site request forgery which could all...

IBM Cognos Analytics 11.1.7, 11.2.0, and 11.1.7 is vulnerable to cross-site request forgery which could allow an attacker to execute malicious and unauthorized actions transmitted from a user that the website trusts. IBM X-Force ID: 209399.

MediumCVSS 4.3Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

This is a cross-site request forgery issue in IBM Cognos Analytics. If a trusted user is tricked into interacting with malicious content while authenticated, unauthorized actions could be sent to Cognos as that user. The recorded impact is limited integrity impact, not data theft or outage.

Executive priority

Handle in the normal vulnerability remediation cycle, with priority raised for externally reachable or administrator-heavy Cognos deployments. There is no cited active exploitation, but the issue can support unauthorized business actions through trusted users.

Technical view

CVE-2021-38886 affects IBM Cognos Analytics 11.1.7, 11.2.0, and 11.2.1. CVSS 3.0 is 4.3 with network attack vector, low complexity, no attacker privileges, required user interaction, unchanged scope, and low integrity impact only. IBM tracks it as X-Force ID 209399.

Likely exposure

Exposure is most likely where affected IBM Cognos Analytics versions are deployed and users access them through browsers. The issue depends on inducing a trusted user action, so business risk is higher for privileged users and administrative workflows.

Exploitation context

The bundle does not cite active exploitation, and KEV is false. The CVSS vector lists exploit maturity as unproven. Treat this as a plausible browser-driven integrity risk, not as confirmed exploitation in the wild.

Researcher notes

The available evidence identifies CSRF and affected versions but does not describe affected endpoints, request types, or a named fixed release in the supplied bundle. Avoid assuming exploitability beyond browser-mediated unauthorized actions from a trusted user context.

Mitigation direction

  • Inventory IBM Cognos Analytics versions 11.1.7, 11.2.0, and 11.2.1.
  • Review IBM advisory 6570957 for fixed versions or vendor mitigation guidance.
  • Prioritize remediation for deployments used by administrators or broadly reachable users.
  • Reinforce phishing-resistant user controls while vendor remediation is planned.

Validation and detection

  • Confirm deployed Cognos Analytics versions against the affected version list.
  • Review IBM X-Force ID 209399 and IBM support guidance for current status.
  • Check whether affected systems are reachable by normal users or external networks.
  • Assess whether privileged users perform sensitive actions through affected Cognos portals.
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-2021-38886 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/PR:N/I:L/A:N/UI:R/C:N/S:U/AC:L/RL:O/RC:C/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
4.3CVSS 3.0MediumCVSS:3.0/AV:N/PR:N/I:L/A:N/UI:R/C:N/S:U/AC:L/RL:O/RC:C/E:U2.81.4Primary CVE score

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.0 score

4.3Medium
CVSS 3.0 vector shape for CVE-2021-38886Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/PR:N/I:L/A:N/UI:R/C:N/S:U/AC:L/RL:O/RC:C/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
IBMCognos Analytics11.2.0, 11.1.7, 11.2.1Listed
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

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