# CVE-2023-27540: IBM Watson CP4D Data Stores denial of service

> A remote attacker can cause a denial of service in IBM Watson CP4D Data Stores by exploiting improper resource allocation limits.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 10 Jul 2023
- **Updated:** 25 Oct 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-xr8j-gg22-3pqg

## What is CVE-2023-27540?

CVE-2023-27540 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in IBM Watson CP4D Data Stores, published on 10 Jul 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

IBM Watson CP4D Data Stores 4.6.0 does not properly allocate resources without limits or throttling which could allow a remote attacker with information specific to the system to cause a denial of service.  IBM X-Force ID:  248924.

Weakness: CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-27540?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Ibm Cloud Pak for Data, Ibm Watson Cp4d Data Stores.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-27540?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-27540 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-27540 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-27540 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in IBM Watson CP4D Data Stores

- [CVE-2025-14754](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-14754/): IBM Cloud Pak for Data is vulnerable to OS command injection (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2025-14753](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-14753/): IBM Cloud Pak for Data is vulnerable to path traversal (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2022-36769](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-36769/): IBM Cloud Pak for Data file upload (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2023-26023](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-26023/): IBM Planning Analytics Cartridge for Cloud Pak for Data information disclosure (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2025-0719](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-0719/): IBM Cloud Pak for Data cross-site scripting (medium 6.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-27540 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-27540 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in IBM Watson CP4D Data Stores, published on 10 Jul 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-27540 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: IBM Watson CP4D Data Stores. 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-2023-27540/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-27540/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-27540
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-27540
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-27540

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-27540/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.