CVE-2021-38978Network attack vector

Information disclosure via missing HSTS enforcement

Published Nov 15, 2021 · Updated Sep 17, 2024

Information disclosure in IBM Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager 3.0, 3.0.1, 4.0, and 4.1 allows remote attackers to intercept sensitive data. The HTTPS interface fails to enable HSTS, leaving browsers without a policy that forces subsequent connections to use TLS. Man-in-the-middle attackers positioned to intercept network traffic can downgrade a connection and read sensitive information in transit.

CVSS severity5.9
Medium
EPSS probability0.89%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Information disclosure in IBM Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager 3.0, 3.0.1, 4.0, and 4.1 allows remote attackers to intercept sensitive data. The HTTPS interface fails to enable HSTS, leaving browsers without a policy that forces subsequent connections to use TLS. Man-in-the-middle attackers positioned to intercept network traffic can downgrade a connection and read sensitive information in transit.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-38978
Published
Nov 15, 2021
Updated
Sep 17, 2024
Vendor
IBM
Product
IBM Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager
Classifications
CWE-319, T1557
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Nov 15, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 17, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=3.0
  2. Affected versionversion=3.0.0.4
  3. Affected versionversion=3.0.1
  4. Affected versionversion=3.0.1.5
  5. Affected versionversion=4.0
  6. Affected versionversion=4.0.0.3
  7. Affected versionversion=4.1
  8. Affected versionversion=4.1.0.1
  9. Affected versionversion=4.1.1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

IBM · IBM Guardium Key Lifecycle Managerversion=3.0; version=3.0.0.4; version=3.0.1; version=3.0.1.5; version=4.0; version=4.0.0.3; version=4.1; version=4.1.0.1; version=4.1.1

Published CVSS scores

5.9NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
5.2IBM CorporationCVSS:3.0/UI:N/C:H/AV:N/A:N/S:U/I:N/PR:N/AC:H/RL:O/RC:C/E:U
5.9IBM CorporationCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
4.3NIST NVDAV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-319Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information
T1557Adversary-in-the-Middle

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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