CVE-2024-41777 Overview
CVE-2024-41777 affects IBM Cognos Controller versions 11.0.0 and 11.0.1. The product contains hard-coded credentials [CWE-798] used for inbound authentication, outbound communication to external components, or encryption of internal data. An unauthenticated remote attacker who recovers these credentials can use them to access protected functionality or data within the application.
The vulnerability carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 with a network attack vector and no required privileges or user interaction. The confidentiality impact is high, while integrity and availability are unaffected. No public exploit code or in-the-wild exploitation has been reported.
Critical Impact
Remote attackers can leverage embedded credentials in IBM Cognos Controller 11.0.0 and 11.0.1 to access sensitive financial consolidation data without authentication.
Affected Products
- IBM Cognos Controller 11.0.0
- IBM Cognos Controller 11.0.1
Discovery Timeline
- 2024-12-03 - CVE-2024-41777 published to NVD
- 2024-12-11 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2024-41777
Vulnerability Analysis
IBM Cognos Controller is a financial consolidation and reporting application used by enterprises to close their books. CVE-2024-41777 is a hard-coded credentials weakness mapped to [CWE-798]. The application ships with embedded secrets such as passwords or cryptographic keys baked into the product distribution.
These credentials serve one or more of three purposes inside the application: validating inbound authentication requests, authenticating outbound calls to external components, or encrypting internal data at rest. Because the same secret is distributed to every customer, recovery of the secret from any single deployment compromises all installations of the affected versions.
The attack does not require authentication, user interaction, or local access. The advisory indicates the impact is limited to confidentiality, suggesting the credential primarily unlocks read access to protected resources or decrypts sensitive data rather than enabling writes.
Root Cause
The root cause is the inclusion of static credentials within shipped binaries, configuration files, or libraries. Developers commonly embed such secrets to simplify service-to-service authentication or to wrap encrypted artifacts. Once embedded, the credentials cannot be rotated by customers and are recoverable through static analysis, decompilation, or inspection of network traffic.
Attack Vector
An attacker reaches the application over the network and supplies the recovered credential to authenticate to an exposed interface or to decrypt intercepted data. The fixed nature of the secret means a single recovery effort yields a key usable against every CVE-2024-41777-affected installation. No verified proof-of-concept code is currently public. Refer to the IBM Support Page for vendor-supplied technical detail.
Detection Methods for CVE-2024-41777
Indicators of Compromise
- Authentication events on IBM Cognos Controller services originating from unexpected external IP addresses or service accounts not present in normal access patterns.
- Anomalous outbound connections from Cognos Controller hosts to systems outside the documented integration topology.
- Access to financial consolidation data or administrative endpoints during off-hours or from non-corporate network ranges.
Detection Strategies
- Inventory all IBM Cognos Controller deployments and confirm version using the application's About page or installer metadata to identify systems running 11.0.0 or 11.0.1.
- Compare authentication logs against an established baseline of expected service identities, flagging any session that uses generic, vendor-default, or undocumented accounts.
- Inspect TLS-terminated traffic to Cognos Controller endpoints for repeated authentication attempts using identical credentials across multiple source IPs.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Forward Cognos Controller application logs, IIS or web server logs, and host authentication events to a centralized SIEM for correlation.
- Alert on successful authentications followed immediately by bulk export of reports, journals, or consolidation data.
- Monitor the Cognos Controller host for new outbound network destinations, since hard-coded credentials may also authorize outbound calls.
How to Mitigate CVE-2024-41777
Immediate Actions Required
- Apply the IBM-supplied fix referenced in the IBM Support Page for IBM Cognos Controller 11.0.0 and 11.0.1.
- Restrict network access to Cognos Controller interfaces to authorized administrative networks and application integration endpoints only.
- Audit recent authentication and data export activity on affected servers to identify any use of the embedded credentials prior to patching.
Patch Information
IBM has published remediation guidance and an updated build on the vendor advisory at the IBM Support Page. Customers running 11.0.0 or 11.0.1 should upgrade to the version specified by IBM in that advisory.
Workarounds
- Place the Cognos Controller application behind a reverse proxy or web application firewall that enforces network-layer access control lists until patching completes.
- Disable or block the network-facing interfaces that consume the hard-coded credential when feasible, and rotate any externally configurable secrets associated with integrations.
- Increase log retention and review frequency for Cognos Controller until the fixed version is deployed across all instances.
# Example: restrict access to the Cognos Controller web tier with iptables
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 9300 -s 10.0.0.0/8 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 9300 -j DROP
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
