# CVE-2021-20464: Denial of service in Cognos Analytics

> A malicious authenticated user can cause a denial of service in IBM Cognos Analytics via an XML Bomb attack.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.0/C:N/AC:L/S:U/A:H/UI:N/AV:N/PR:L/I: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:** 22 Apr 2022
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-6cvg-3r48-6prg

## What is CVE-2021-20464?

CVE-2021-20464 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Ibm Cognos Analytics, published on 22 Apr 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

IBM Cognos Analytics PowerPlay (IBM Cognos Analytics 11.1.7, 11.2.0, and 11.1.7) could be vulnerable to an XML Bomb attack by a malicious authenticated user. IBM X-Force ID: 196813.

Weakness: CWE-776 (Improper Restriction of Recursive Entity References in DTDs)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-20464?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Ibm Cognos Analytics, Netapp Oncommand Insight.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-20464?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-20464 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-20464 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-20464 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Ibm Cognos Analytics

- [CVE-2020-4561](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-4561/): Missing authorization in Cognos Analytics (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2024-51466](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-51466/): IBM Cognos Analytics expression language injection (critical 9.0)
- [CVE-2021-29679](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-29679/): Code injection in Cognos Analytics (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2024-25047](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-25047/): IBM Cognos Analytics log injection (high 8.6)
- [CVE-2018-1721](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1721/): IBM Cognos Analytics 11.0 and 11.1 is vulnerable to a XML External Entity Injection (XXE) attack when processing XML data. (high 8.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-20464 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-20464 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Ibm Cognos Analytics, published on 22 Apr 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-20464 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Ibm Cognos Analytics. 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-2021-20464/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-20464/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-20464
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-20464
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-20464

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-20464/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.