# CVE-2023-45190: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Optimization HTTP header injection

> Attackers can inject HTTP headers to enable XSS, cache poisoning, or session hijacking in IBM Engineering Lifecycle Optimization.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 9 Feb 2024
- **Updated:** 3 Jun 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-5r2p-47vm-6fh9

## What is CVE-2023-45190?

CVE-2023-45190 is a medium-severity vulnerability in IBM Engineering Lifecycle Optimization - Publishing, published on 9 Feb 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Optimization 7.0.2 and 7.0.3 is vulnerable to HTTP header injection, caused by improper validation of input by the HOST headers.  This could allow an attacker to conduct various attacks against the vulnerable system, including cross-site scripting, cache poisoning or session hijacking.  IBM X-Force ID:  268754.

Weakness: CWE-307 (Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts), CWE-644 (Improper Neutralization of HTTP Headers for Scripting Syntax)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-45190?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Ibm Engineering Lifecycle Optimization.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-45190?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-45190 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-45190 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-45190 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in IBM Engineering Lifecycle Optimization - Publishing

- [CVE-2023-45191](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-45191/): IBM Engineering Lifecycle Optimization information disclosure (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2021-29774](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-29774/): Privilege escalation in Engineering Lifecycle Optimization (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2021-29786](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-29786/): Information disclosure in Engineering Lifecycle Optimization (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2023-45187](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-45187/): IBM Engineering Lifecycle Optimization - Publishing session fixation (medium 6.3)
- [CVE-2024-52890](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-52890/): IBM Engineering Lifecycle Optimization - Publishing cross-site scripting (medium 6.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-45190 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-45190 is a medium-severity vulnerability in IBM Engineering Lifecycle Optimization - Publishing, published on 9 Feb 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-45190 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Optimization - Publishing. 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-2023-45190/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-45190/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-45190
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-45190
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-45190

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-45190/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.