Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This issue affects IBM Cognos Analytics versions listed in the sources and may allow credentials to be obtained from a user's browser because autocomplete was configured incorrectly. Business risk is credential exposure, not service outage. The published CVSS score is medium, but confidentiality impact is high.
Executive priority
Prioritize remediation during the next security maintenance window, faster for internet-accessible or broadly used Cognos deployments. The issue is not rated critical, but credential disclosure can create follow-on risk beyond Cognos itself.
Technical view
CVE-2021-38904 is an IBM Cognos Analytics information disclosure issue tied to incorrect browser autocomplete settings. The provided vector is CVSS 3.0 score 4.6 with high confidentiality impact and no integrity or availability impact. The source data has some version inconsistency, so vendor guidance should drive scoping.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where IBM Cognos Analytics 11.1.7, 11.2.0, or 11.2.1 is deployed and users authenticate through affected browser forms. NetApp also published an advisory, so environments using NetApp-managed or bundled exposure should check that mapping.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or other evidence of active exploitation. The issue appears to require access to a user's browser context or saved credential behavior, with impact focused on credential disclosure rather than code execution.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to IBM, X-Force, CVE, and NetApp references. The bundle contains a mismatch between the title description and affected version list. Do not expand affected products or assert exploitation without additional vendor or threat-intelligence confirmation.
Mitigation direction
- Review IBM advisory 6570957 for the supported remediation path.
- Apply IBM-recommended fixes for affected Cognos Analytics versions.
- Check NetApp advisory NTAP-20220602-0003 if NetApp products are in scope.
- Avoid relying on unsupported local workarounds as final remediation.
- Treat potentially exposed credentials as sensitive and rotate where warranted.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Cognos Analytics versions and compare against the affected list.
- Confirm whether IBM advisory remediation is applied in each environment.
- Review NetApp advisory applicability for any NetApp-managed deployments.
- Validate affected authentication forms no longer expose credential autocomplete risk.
- Check credential-rotation records for accounts with likely browser exposure.
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.
CVE-2021-38904 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
- 4.6 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/I:N/AV:P/PR:N/UI:N/A:N/S:U/AC:L/C:H/E:U/RC:C/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/I:N/AV:P/PR:N/UI:N/A:N/S:U/AC:L/C:H/E:U/RC:C/RL:O0.93.6Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
4.6MediumVector: CVSS:3.0/I:N/AV:P/PR:N/UI:N/A:N/S:U/AC:L/C:H/E:U/RC:C/RL:O
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6570957CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- ibm-cognos-cve202138904-info-disc (209693)CVE reference · vdb-entry, x_refsource_XF
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20220602-0003/CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
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.