# CVE-2018-1846: XML external entity in Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager

> Remote attackers can exploit XML External Entity injection in IBM Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager to expose sensitive information or cause denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.0/A:L/AC:L/AV:N/C:H/I:N/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:** 2 Nov 2018
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-2898-jrc3-x665

## What is CVE-2018-1846?

CVE-2018-1846 is a high-severity vulnerability in Ibm Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager, published on 2 Nov 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

IBM Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager 5.0 through 5.0.2 and 6.0 through 6.0.6 are vulnerable to a XML External Entity Injection (XXE) attack when processing XML data. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to expose sensitive information or consume memory resources. IBM X-Force ID: 150945.

Weakness: CWE-611 (Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-1846?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Ibm Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-1846?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-1846 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-1846 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-1846 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Ibm Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager

- [CVE-2018-1588](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1588/): XML external entity in Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager (high 7.1)
- [CVE-2018-1607](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1607/): XML external entity in Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager (high 7.1)
- [CVE-2014-3037](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-3037/): Cross-site request forgery in n/a (medium 6.0)
- [CVE-2018-1608](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1608/): Weak cryptography in Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager (medium 5.9)
- [CVE-2018-1910](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1910/): Cross-site scripting in Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager (medium 5.4)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-1846 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-1846 is a high-severity vulnerability in Ibm Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager, published on 2 Nov 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-2018-1846 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Ibm Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager. 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-2018-1846/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1846/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-1846
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-1846
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-1846

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1846/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.