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IBM Guardium EUVDEUVD-2026-83441

| CVE-2026-84089 HIGH
Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269)
2026-09-18 ibm GHSA-mw26-mw57-3h52
7.8
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: ibm
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Obtain low-privileged local account on appliance
  2. Delivery
    Identify improperly-managed privileged component
  3. Exploit
    Trigger privilege management flaw
  4. Execution
    Execute actions as elevated/root user
  5. Impact
    Full compromise of Guardium host

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Least privilege enforcement
MITRE ATT&CK

1 technique across 1 tactic: Privilege Escalation

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Exploitation Conditions

Requires pre-existing local access to the IBM Guardium Data Protection 12.2 appliance as an authenticated low-privileged user (PR:L, AV:L) - the flaw is a local escalation, not a remote entry vector. No user interaction is needed (UI:N) and complexity is low (AC:L), but exploitation is limited to environments where untrusted or lower-tier accounts/shells already exist on the collector/aggregator host. The exact triggering feature (the improperly-managed privileged component) is not named in the vendor description.

Impact

This is a genuine but moderate-priority local privilege escalation. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, base 7.8) is internally consistent with the CWE-269 (improper privilege management) description: a local, already-authenticated low-privileged user (PR:L) can elevate to full compromise of confidentiality, integrity and availability on the appliance with low complexity. There is NO conflict between the vector and the description - both agree the vector is local (AV:L), so the score is not inflated. Real-world risk is bounded by the AV:L prerequisite: the attacker must already have a foothold (shell/account) on the Guardium host, so this is a second-stage/insider or post-compromise escalation, not an internet-facing entry point. No EPSS score, no CISA KEV listing, and no public exploit are present in the provided data, so there is no evidence of active exploitation - treat CVSS 7.8 as the ceiling of theoretical impact rather than a signal of imminent widespread attack. Prioritize behind any unauthenticated/remote Guardium flaws in the same 12.2 patch cycle, but patch promptly on multi-user or externally-administered collectors where untrusted local accounts exist.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

A low-privileged user with an existing account or shell on a Guardium Data Protection 12.2 appliance abuses a component that mismanages privileges (e.g., an over-permissioned binary, service, or file/operation) to execute actions as a higher-privileged (likely root/admin) identity. This yields full control of the appliance and its monitored database-activity data. No public proof-of-concept is identified at time of analysis.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
Patch available 0.1% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Sep 18, 2026

Local privilege escalation in IBM Guardium Data Protection 12.2 allows an authenticated, low-privileged user with existing access to the appliance host to raise their privileges to a higher level, affecting confidentiality, integrity and availability of the platform. The flaw is rated CVSS 7.8 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), meaning exploitation requires a pre-existing local account and low complexity but no user interaction; it is an escalation step rather than a remote entry vector, so risk is concentrated on collector/aggregator hosts where untrusted or lower-tier accounts or shells already exist. No public exploit code was identified at time of analysis, the issue is not listed in CISA KEV, and no EPSS score was supplied; this is a genuine but moderate-priority local privilege escalation rather than an actively exploited campaign.

RemediationAI

Apply the vendor fix for IBM Guardium Data Protection 12.2 as documented in IBM's advisory at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7288035 - patch availability is confirmed by the vendor, but the input does not specify an exact fixed build, so the precise patched maintenance level must be taken from that advisory rather than assumed. Where immediate upgrade is not possible, compensating controls should target the local attack surface: remove or disable unnecessary OS-level accounts and interactive shells on collector and aggregator hosts (trade-off: reduced operational flexibility for break-fix and vendor support access), restrict console/SSH access on the appliance management network via firewall rules and jump-host-only SSH (trade-off: added latency and dependency on the jump host during incidents), and audit setuid/setgid binaries, root-owned cron jobs and sudoers entries for the improperly-managed privileged component so it can be removed or permission-hardened (trade-off: changes to vendor-managed binaries may be overwritten by future upgrades and should be validated with IBM support). Because no public exploit code was identified at time of analysis, detection effort should focus on local privilege-escalation telemetry - unusual sudo/ su activity, unexpected exec of setuid files, and changes to privileged accounts - as a monitoring control while the patch is staged.

Affected VersionsENISA

Guardium Data Protection 12.2

Affected Packages

euvd guardium_data_protection no fix

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

The root cause is classified as CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management): a privileged component of the Guardium Data Protection 12.2 appliance - most plausibly a setuid binary, root-owned service, scheduled job, or local management utility on the collector/aggregator - either fails to drop privileges correctly or does not properly validate the privileges of the calling local user, allowing a lower-privileged account to act with elevated rights. The CVSS vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H describes a local attack path (AV:L) requiring an existing low-privileged account (PR:L, confirmed authenticated by the vector), with low attack complexity (AC:L) and no user interaction (UI:N); the scope is unchanged (S:U), so the compromised component grants high confidentiality, integrity and availability impact within the same security authority. Guardium is a database activity monitoring and data-protection platform whose collectors and aggregators process sensitive audit and database traffic, so local escalation on those hosts can expose audit data, tamper with monitoring, or pivot to managed database environments; the specific improperly-managed privileged component is not named in the vendor description. The CPE record cpe:2.3:a:ibm:guardium_data_protection:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* carries a wildcard version, so the vendor advisory should be consulted to confirm the exact 12.2 builds affected.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

Vendor (ibm) PRIMARY 7.8 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
vuln.today AI 7.8 HIGH

Local low-privileged authenticated user (AV:L/PR:L) escalates with low complexity and no interaction to full appliance compromise (C:H/I:H/A:H), scope unchanged; matches vendor vector.

3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (ibm).

CVSS VectorVendor: ibm

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

DescriptionCVE.org

IBM Guardium Data Protection 12.2 could allow a local attacker to gain elevated privileges due to improper privilege management.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

IBM Guardium Data Protection 12.2, the platform many organizations depend on to monitor and protect sensitive database activity, carries a high-severity local privilege escalation flaw that allows an already-authenticated low-privileged user on an appliance host to gain full control of that system. Because Guardium collector and aggregator hosts concentrate audit trails, monitored database traffic, and compliance evidence, a successful escalation can expose or corrupt the very data leadership relies on for regulatory reporting and internal assurance. The exposure is confined to environments where lower-trust local accounts or shells already exist on those appliances, making this a contained but material risk to data-protection integrity rather than an external breach in progress.

Business Impact: High
Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.1%
Top 99% exploitable
Prevalence
Low
niche enterprise database-activity-monitoring appliance, limited deployment footprint
Data Quality
5 sources
Confidence: Medium

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.1%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision
Scheduled
Exploitation
None
System Exposure· derived
Small
Automatable
No
Human Impact
High
Technical Impact
Total

Priority Score

39
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +39
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker leverages flaws in access control mechanisms to gain permissions beyond what they were originally granted.

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Authenticated command injection in IBM Guardium Data Protection 12.2 allows a user who can reach the GIM (Guardium Insta

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SQL injection in IBM Guardium Data Protection 12.2 allows a remote authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary SQL comma

CVE-2026-84075 CRITICAL
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Unauthenticated remote attackers can bypass security restrictions in IBM Guardium Data Protection 12.2 through the Chang

CVE-2026-84078 CRITICAL
9.9 Sep 18

Missing authentication in the LoadBalancerServlet of IBM Guardium Data Protection 12.2 allows unauthenticated, network-r

CVE-2026-81657 CRITICAL
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Unauthenticated remote code execution in IBM Guardium Data Protection 12.2 lets a network attacker who can reach the app

CVE-2026-75875 CRITICAL
9.8 Oct 08

Unauthenticated path traversal in IBM Guardium Data Protection 12.0, 12.1, and 12.2 can be leveraged by remote attackers

CVE-2026-82340 CRITICAL
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Unauthenticated insecure deserialization in the Change Audit System (CAS) listener of IBM Guardium Data Protection 12.2

CVE-2026-82967 CRITICAL
9.8 Sep 18

Authentication bypass in IBM Guardium Data Protection 12.2 lets an unauthenticated remote attacker evade the IP-based ac

CVE-2026-84249 CRITICAL
9.8 Oct 08

Missing authentication on a critical management function in IBM Guardium Data Protection 12.2 and 12.2.2 allows unauthen

CVE-2026-84272 CRITICAL
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Missing authentication in the edge-controller component of IBM Guardium Data Protection 12.1 and 12.2.2 allows unauthent

CVE-2026-84082 CRITICAL
9.8 Sep 18

Unauthenticated SQL injection in IBM Guardium Data Protection 12.2 lets a remote attacker submit crafted input that is c

CVE-2026-82344 CRITICAL
9.8 Oct 08

A heap-based buffer overflow in IBM Guardium Data Protection's S-TAP TrafficTap TDS login reassembly routine allows an u

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