VulnerabilityPublished 26 May 2026

CVE-2026-3603: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management · XML External Entity (XXE)

Affects IBM Engineering Lifecycle ManagementSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.1 High.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 11:52 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.1High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 29% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:L

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

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 26 May 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 30 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
IBMEngineering Lifecycle Management	Affected ≥ 7.0.3 Interim Fix 001, ≤ Interim Fix 021 ≥ 7.1.0 Interim Fix 001, ≤ Interim Fix 009 =7.2.0 and 7.2.0 Interim Fix 001	Fixed in–

CPE configurations (3)

cpe:2.3:a:ibm:engineering_lifecycle_management:7.0.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:ibm:engineering_lifecycle_management:7.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:ibm:engineering_lifecycle_management:7.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

AI-suggested

Until a fix is available, restrict access to the affected versions to trusted users only and monitor for suspicious activity related to XML processing. Avoid processing untrusted XML inputs where possible.

Description

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management versions 7.0.3 Interim Fix 001 through 7.2.0 Interim Fix 001 contain an XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability. This flaw allows an authenticated attacker to exploit the XML processing functionality to disclose sensitive information or cause memory resource consumption. The vulnerability is identified as CWE-611 and has a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.1, indicating high severity. No official patch or remediation level has been confirmed yet.

Impact

Successful exploitation can lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information and partial denial of service through memory resource exhaustion. The attack requires authentication but can be launched remotely over the network. Integrity is not impacted, and availability impact is low. There are no known active exploits reported.

Summary

CVE-2026-3603 is an XML External Entity (XXE) injection vulnerability affecting IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management versions 7.0.3 Interim Fix 001 through 7.2.0 Interim Fix 001. The vulnerability arises from improper restriction of XML external entity references during XML data processing. An authenticated attacker could leverage this to access sensitive information or consume system memory resources. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 7.1, reflecting network attack vector, low attack complexity, required privileges, no user interaction, high confidentiality impact, no integrity impact, and low availability impact.

CWE-611Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A02:2025: Security Misconfiguration (opens in a new tab)
The product processes an XML document that can contain XML entities with URIs that resolve to documents outside of the intended sphere of control, causing the product to embed incorrect documents into its output.
Implementation · System Configuration
Many XML parsers and validators can be configured to disable external entity expansion.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Deserialization (opens in a new tab)
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
XML External Entity Prevention (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V5.5.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Data Serialization External Entities Blowup (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

ibm.com/support/pages/node/7274078 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

CPE configurations (3)

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 2 Jun 2026, 21:18 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-611

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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