What is CVE-2021-38948?

CVE-2021-38948 is a critical-severity vulnerability in IBM Aix, classified under XML Injection (Blind XPath Injection). CVSS score: 9.1/10. Published 2021-11-02.

How severe is CVE-2021-38948?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.1 out of 10.

XPath Injection in IBM Aix

CVE-2021-38948

IBM InfoSphere Information Server 11.7 is vulnerable to an XML External Entity Injection (XXE) attack when processing XML data. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to expose sensitive information or consume memory resources. IBM X-Force ID: 211402.

Published 2021-11-02 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.1 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.020 (80.4th percentile), scored 2026-10-01.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 80th percentile — 80.4% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.020 · newest: 0.020 · change: 0.000

Affected products

IBM Aix
IBM Infosphere Information Server — versions 11.7
IBM Infosphere Information Server — versions 11.7
Linux Kernel
Microsoft Windows

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-91 — XML Injection (Blind XPath Injection)

References

www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6509632 (Patch, Vendor Advisory)
exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/211402 (VDB Entry, vdb-entry, Vendor Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-38948?: CVE-2021-38948 is a critical-severity vulnerability in IBM Aix, classified under XML Injection (Blind XPath Injection). CVSS score: 9.1/10. Published 2021-11-02.
How severe is CVE-2021-38948?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.1 out of 10.