# CVE-2018-1672: Auth bypass in WebSphere Portal

> Attackers can impersonate other users due to incorrect user context handling in IBM WebSphere Portal, leading to unauthorized access and privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`CVSS:3.0/A:L/AC:H/AV:N/C:L/I:L/PR:L/S:U/UI:N/E:U/RC:C/RL:O`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 1 Oct 2018
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-c3vc-j27v-38gp

## What is CVE-2018-1672?

CVE-2018-1672 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Ibm Websphere Portal, published on 1 Oct 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

IBM WebSphere Portal 7.0, 8.0, 8.5, and 9.0 may fail to set the correct user context in certain impersonation scenarios, which can allow a user to act with the identity of a different user. IBM X-Force ID: 144958.

Weakness: CWE-287 (Improper Authentication)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-1672?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Ibm Websphere Portal.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-1672?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-1672 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-1672 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-1672 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Ibm Websphere Portal

- [CVE-2008-5675](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-5675/): Auth bypass in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2017-1156](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-1156/): Open redirect in WebSphere Portal (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2013-2951](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2951/): Information disclosure in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2015-7419](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-7419/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2015-1943](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1943/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-1672 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-1672 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Ibm Websphere Portal, published on 1 Oct 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-1672 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Ibm Websphere Portal. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1672/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1672/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-1672
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-1672
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-1672

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1672/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.