CVE-2021-39046

IBM Business Automation Workflow 18.0, 19.0, 20.0, and 21.0 and IBM Business Process Manager 8.5 and 8.6 stores user credentials in plain clear text which can be read by a lprivileged user. IBM X-Force ID: 214346.

Published: 2022-03-18 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-39046 is rated Low Risk (32.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.14%). 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-2021-39046

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 2025-04-23 0.20% 0.14% -0.06%
2 2025-04-04 0.12% 0.20% +0.08%
3 2025-04-03 — 0.12% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-39046

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.9 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.2 3.6 [email protected]
4.9 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.2 3.6 [email protected]
4.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-39046

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-39046

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 19.0.0.1 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 20.0.0.1 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 21.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_automation_workflow:21.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm business_process_manager 8.5 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_process_manager:8.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm business_process_manager 8.6 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:business_process_manager:8.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-39046

cvelogic Threat Intelligence