Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
IBM Guardium Data Encryption 5.0.0.2 and 5.0.0.3 may expose sensitive information because HTTP Strict Transport Security was not properly enabled. The practical risk is interception if an attacker can position themselves between a user and the service.
Executive priority
Treat this as a targeted confidentiality risk, not an emergency mass-exploitation issue. Remediate during the next security maintenance window, faster if affected systems are exposed beyond trusted internal networks.
Technical view
The issue is an HSTS configuration failure in IBM Security Guardium Data Encryption 5.0.0.2 and 5.0.0.3. CVSS 3.0 is 5.9 with network attack vector, high attack complexity, no privileges, no user interaction, and high confidentiality impact only.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to organizations running IBM Security Guardium Data Encryption versions 5.0.0.2 or 5.0.0.3, especially where access crosses untrusted networks or proxies.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show active exploitation, and the CVE is not listed as KEV. Exploitation requires man-in-the-middle positioning, reflected by high attack complexity.
Researcher notes
No CWE is listed in the bundle. The record describes HSTS not being properly enabled. The bundle has an X-Force ID inconsistency: the description says 213964, while the referenced X-Force entry is 213864.
Mitigation direction
- Review IBM advisory for the official fix or configuration guidance.
- Prioritize affected systems reachable over untrusted or shared networks.
- Restrict administrative or sensitive access paths until remediation is verified.
- Verify HSTS behavior after applying vendor guidance.
Validation and detection
- Inventory IBM Guardium Data Encryption versions and identify 5.0.0.2 or 5.0.0.3 deployments.
- Check whether sensitive GDE access traverses untrusted network paths.
- Confirm HTTP responses enforce Strict-Transport-Security after remediation.
- Record compensating controls such as VPN-only access or trusted network segmentation.
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-2021-39026 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
- 5.9 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/A:N/AC:H/AV:N/S:U/PR:N/UI:N/I:N/C:H/RC:C/RL:O/E:U
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/A:N/AC:H/AV:N/S:U/PR:N/UI:N/I:N/C:H/RC:C/RL:O/E:U2.23.6Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
5.9MediumVector: CVSS:3.0/A:N/AC:H/AV:N/S:U/PR:N/UI:N/I:N/C:H/RC:C/RL:O/E:U
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6557184CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- ibm-guardium-cve202139026-info-disc (213864)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.