CVE-2021-38883

IBM Business Automation Workflow 18.0, 19.0, 20,0 and 21.0 and IBM Business Process Manager 8.5 and 8.6 are vulnerable to cross-site scripting. This vulnerability allows users to embed arbitrary JavaScript code in the Web UI thus altering the intended functionality potentially leading to credentials disclosure within a trusted session. IBM X-Force ID: 209165.

Published: 2021-12-17 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-38883 is rated Low Risk (37.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.21%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-38883

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-07-02 0.29% 0.21% -0.07%
2 2025-03-30 0.45% 0.29% -0.16%
3 2025-03-29 — 0.45% —

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-38883

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.4 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.3 2.7 [email protected]
5.4 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.3 2.7 [email protected]
3.5 2.0 LOW
AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:N/I:P/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 6.8 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-38883

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-38883

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
ibm business_automation_workflow 18.0.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_automation_workflow:18.0.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm business_automation_workflow 18.0.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_automation_workflow:18.0.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm business_automation_workflow 18.0.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_automation_workflow:18.0.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm business_automation_workflow 19.0.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_automation_workflow:19.0.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm business_automation_workflow 19.0.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_automation_workflow:19.0.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm business_automation_workflow 19.0.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_automation_workflow:19.0.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm business_automation_workflow 19.0.0.3 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_automation_workflow:19.0.0.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm business_automation_workflow 20.0.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_automation_workflow:20.0.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm business_automation_workflow 20.0.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_automation_workflow:20.0.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm business_automation_workflow 20.0.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_automation_workflow:20.0.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm business_automation_workflow 21.0.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_automation_workflow:21.0.0.0:*:*:*:-:*:*:*
ibm business_process_manager 8.5.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_process_manager:8.5.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm business_process_manager 8.5.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_process_manager:8.5.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm business_process_manager 8.5.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_process_manager:8.5.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm business_process_manager 8.5.5.0 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_process_manager:8.5.5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm business_process_manager 8.5.6.0 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_process_manager:8.5.6.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm business_process_manager 8.5.7.0 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_process_manager:8.5.7.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm business_process_manager 8.6.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_process_manager:8.6.0.0:-:*:*:-:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-38883

cvelogic Threat Intelligence