CVE-2024-56340
Published: 28 February 2025
Summary
CVE-2024-56340 is a medium-severity Relative Path Traversal (CWE-23) vulnerability in Ibm Cognos Analytics. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 6.1% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
Directly enforces input validation on the deficon parameter to reject path traversal payloads, preventing local file inclusion attacks.
Requires timely patching of the specific flaw in IBM Cognos Analytics as detailed in the IBM security advisory, eliminating the vulnerability.
Enforces access control policies to restrict low-privileged users from reading sensitive files even if path traversal partially succeeds.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Remote LFI/path traversal in public-facing web app directly enables T1190 exploitation and facilitates T1005 local file data access.
NVD Description
IBM Cognos Analytics 11.2.0 through 11.2.4 FP5 is vulnerable to local file inclusion vulnerability, allowing an attacker to access sensitive files by inserting path traversal payloads inside the deficon parameter.
Deeper analysisAI
IBM Cognos Analytics versions 11.2.0 through 11.2.4 FP5 are affected by CVE-2024-56340, a local file inclusion vulnerability classified under CWE-23 (path traversal). The flaw allows attackers to access sensitive files by inserting path traversal payloads into the deficon parameter. Published on 2025-02-28, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N), indicating medium severity with high confidentiality impact.
Exploitation requires low privileges (PR:L) and can be performed remotely over the network (AV:N) with low complexity and no user interaction. A successful attack enables unauthorized reading of sensitive files, compromising confidentiality without impacting integrity or availability.
Mitigation details are available in the IBM security advisory at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7183676 and the vulnerability research repository at https://github.com/MarioTesoro/vulnerability-research/tree/main/CVE-2024-56340.
Details
- CWE(s)