Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
An authenticated user could exhaust resources while creating databases in IBM Db2 on Cloud Pak for Data or Db2 Warehouse on Cloud Pak for Data. The likely business impact is service disruption, not data theft or tampering. The issue is rated medium with high availability impact.
Executive priority
Treat as a moderate availability risk. It is most urgent for shared, production, or externally reachable Cloud Pak for Data environments where authenticated users have broad provisioning rights. Patch planning should follow IBM guidance, with access control review as an immediate risk-reduction step.
Technical view
CVE-2024-54178 is an improper resource allocation issue (CWE-770) affecting IBM Db2 on Cloud Pak for Data and Db2 Warehouse on Cloud Pak for Data. CVSS 3.1 is 6.5: network, low complexity, low privileges, no user interaction, unchanged scope, high availability impact, no confidentiality or integrity impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to affected IBM Db2 or Db2 Warehouse deployments on Cloud Pak for Data. The bundle identifies versions 4.8, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, and 5.3, though one affected-version field is less complete than the CPE list.
Exploitation context
The bundle does not cite active exploitation, and KEV status is false. Exploitation requires an authenticated user with enough access to create new databases or trigger that workflow. The expected outcome is denial of service through resource exhaustion.
Researcher notes
The vulnerability is grounded in CWE-770 improper resource allocation during database creation. Source data does not provide patch version details, proof-of-concept status, or exploit telemetry. Version evidence should be reconciled against IBM’s advisory because the bundle’s affected-version list and CPE coverage are not perfectly aligned.
Mitigation direction
- Review IBM advisory 7277112 for the corrected versions or interim guidance.
- Prioritize upgrades for exposed or multi-user Cloud Pak for Data environments.
- Limit database-creation privileges to trusted administrative users.
- Monitor Db2 and platform resources for abnormal database creation activity.
- Use platform quotas or controls where IBM guidance supports them.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Db2 on Cloud Pak for Data and Db2 Warehouse deployments.
- Confirm deployed versions against IBM advisory 7277112 and the CVE record.
- Review roles allowed to create databases in affected environments.
- Check recent audit logs for unusual database creation activity.
- Verify resource limits and alerting cover Db2 database provisioning workflows.
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.
CWE-770: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2024-54178 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
- 6.5 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
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.
SSVC decision data
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:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H2.83.6ibmVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
6.5MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7277112CVE reference, ibm · vendor-advisory, patch
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.
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.