Security Resilience

CVE-2023-33838

Crypto Weakness in Ibm Security Verify Governance 10.0.2

Crypto Weakness
Published
29 January 2025
Modified
04 March 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 4.4
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0024 14th percentile
Risk Priority 34 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-33838 is a medium-severity Use of a One-Way Hash without a Salt (CWE-759) vulnerability in Ibm Security Verify Governance. Its CVSS base score is 4.4 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Password Cracking (T1110.002); ranked at the 14th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to IA-5 (Authenticator Management) and SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A04:2025 Cryptographic Failures

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

IBM Security Verify Governance 10.0.2 Identity Manager uses a one-way cryptographic hash against an input that should not be reversible, such as a password, but the product does not also use a salt as part of the input.

CWE(s)
CWE-759CWE-916

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1110.002 Password Cracking Credential Access
Adversaries may use password cracking to attempt to recover usable credentials, such as plaintext passwords, when credential material such as password hashes are obtained.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001 Data Obfuscation Command And Control
Adversaries may obfuscate command and control traffic to make it more difficult to detect.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001.001 Junk Data Command And Control
Adversaries may add junk data to protocols used for command and control to make detection more difficult.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access
Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.007 Proc Filesystem Credential Access
Adversaries may gather credentials from the proc filesystem or `/proc`.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-22330Same product: Ibm Security Verify Governance
CVE-2023-33836Same product: Ibm Security Verify Governance
CVE-2023-33840Same product: Ibm Security Verify Governance
CVE-2025-36003Same product: Ibm Security Verify Governance
CVE-2023-35013Same product: Ibm Security Verify Governance
CVE-2023-33839Same product: Ibm Security Verify Governance
CVE-2023-35888Same product: Ibm Security Verify Governance
CVE-2023-35018Same product: Ibm Security Verify Governance
CVE-2023-35016Same product: Ibm Security Verify Governance
CVE-2023-35017Same product: Ibm Security Verify Governance

Affected Assets

ibm
security verify governance
10.0.2

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V11.4.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SC-13 Cryptographic Protection good match

Cryptographic protection requirements specify approved algorithms and usage that encompass salted one-way hashes for passwords.

IA-5 Authenticator Management good match

Authenticator management requires secure credential storage practices that include salted hashes.

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can identify missing salt values through code review or analysis.

SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools partial match

Development standards and tools can mandate salted hashing as part of secure implementation requirements.

SC-28 Protection of Information at Rest partial match

Protection of information at rest requires cryptographic safeguards on stored password hashes, reducing exposure to offline cracking.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.AA-03 partial match
blocks

Authentication policies may reference password handling but do not address storage or computational cost of hashes.

PR.DS-01 partial match
blocks

Proper cryptographic hashing for data-at-rest protection directly requires salted hashes for passwords.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices mandate correct password storage with salts, eliminating this exact weakness.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
degrades

Requires secure handling of authentication information, which includes choosing strong password hashing schemes.

A.6.4 Disciplinary process partial match
removes
A.8.11 Data masking partial match
removes
A.8.24 Use of cryptography partial match
blocks

Use of cryptography requires appropriate cryptographic controls including salting for password hashing.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC processes can include password-handling rules but do not guarantee salted hashes.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
blocks

A.8.26 only requires that security requirements (including use of cryptography per 8.24) be identified and specified during development or acquisition; it does not itself mandate, enforce, or implement salting of one-way hashes and therefore does not stop exploitation of unsalted hashes that remain present.

References