{"id":"CVE-2026-17403","kind":"vulnerability","aliases":["CVE-2026-17403"],"related":[],"title":"IBM API Connect: hard-coded credentials give remote attackers full administrative control","description":"IBM API Connect 10.0.8.0 through 10.0.8.12 and 12.1.0.0 through 12.1.1.2 could allow a remote attacker to gain full administrative control due to the use of hard-coded credentials.","summary":"IBM API Connect versions 10.0.8.0 through 10.0.8.12 and 12.1.0.0 through 12.1.1.2 ship with hard-coded credentials. A remote attacker who uses them gets full administrative control of the product.","severity":"critical","cvss":9.0,"epss":null,"exploited":false,"exploited_at":null,"products":[{"name":"API Connect","fixed":["10.0.8.13"],"affected":">= 10.0.8.0, <= 10.0.8.12","ecosystem":"vendor"},{"name":"API Connect","fixed":["12.1.1.3"],"affected":">= 12.1.0.0, <= 12.1.1.2","ecosystem":"vendor"}],"ecosystems":[],"tags":["api-gateway","hard-coded-credentials","ibm-api-connect","infrastructure","self-hosted"],"not_affected_if":["unsupported-version-range"],"how_to_check":"Find your API Connect version (management, gateway, portal and analytics subsystems all ship in the same release). Affected: 10.0.8.0 through 10.0.8.12 and 12.1.0.0 through 12.1.1.2. Fixed: 10.0.8.13 and 12.1.1.3. IBM does not say which credentials or which component is involved, so treat any instance in the ranges as exposed and reachable from wherever its admin and API endpoints are reachable.","fix":"Upgrade to IBM API Connect 12.1.1.3 (12.1.x line) or 10.0.8.13 (10.0.8.x line).","status":"open","published_at":"2026-11-07T05:18:56+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-11-07T05:46:07+00:00","triaged_at":"2026-11-07T05:48:42+00:00","updated_at":"2026-11-07T05:52:05+00:00","category":"infrastructure","confidence":0.75,"triage":{"at":"2026-11-07T05:48:42Z","model":"claude-haiku-5-5","output":{"fix":"unknown","reach":"internet","title":"IBM API Connect: hard-coded credentials give remote attackers full administrative control","impact":"high","summary":"IBM API Connect versions 10.0.8.0 through 10.0.8.12 and 12.1.0.0 through 12.1.1.2 ship with hard-coded credentials. A remote attacker who uses them gets full administrative control of the product.","audience":"businesses","category":"infrastructure","nicknames":[],"who_cares":["ibm-api-connect","api-gateway"],"confidence":0.6,"fix_status":"unknown","needs_auth":"no","worst_case":"Remote attacker gains full administrative control of API Connect","analyst_note":"Confirm the fixed version and whether the hard-coded credentials are reachable on default deployments; check the IBM security bulletin for this CVE.","how_to_check":"- Check the installed API Connect version against the affected ranges 10.0.8.0 through 10.0.8.12 and 12.1.0.0 through 12.1.1.2\n- unknown","plain_action":"","needs_analyst":true,"not_affected_if":["unsupported-version-range"],"who_is_affected":"Organizations running IBM API Connect in the affected version ranges are exposed. The sources do not say which deployment modes or configurations are required, so the exposure of any given instance is unknown. Installations outside these version ranges are not affected.","user_interaction":"no","needs_special_setup":"unknown","severity_if_unknown":"critical"},"cost_usd":0.000684,"input_tokens":4225,"output_tokens":522,"severity_before":"critical"},"analyst_status":"done","analyst_note":"Confirm the fixed version and whether the hard-coded credentials are reachable on default deployments; check the IBM security bulletin for this CVE.","search":"'-17403':16A,19A '-2026':15A,18A '10.0.8.0':43B,72C '10.0.8.12':45B,74C '12.1.0.0':47B,76C '12.1.1.2':49B,78C 'administr':12A,64B,87C 'allow':80C 'api':2A,20A,22A,25B,33B,40B,70C 'api-gateway':24B 'attack':10A,58B,83C 'code':6A,29B,54B,96C 'connect':3A,21A,23A,34B,41B,71C 'control':13A,65B,88C 'could':79C 'credenti':7A,30B,55B,97C 'cve':14A,17A 'due':89C 'full':11A,63B,86C 'gain':85C 'gateway':26B 'get':62B 'give':8A 'hard':5A,28B,53B,95C 'hard-cod':4A,52B,94C 'hard-coded-credenti':27B 'host':38B 'ibm':1A,32B,39B,69C 'ibm-api-connect':31B 'infrastructur':35B 'product':68B 'remot':9A,57B,82C 'self':37B 'self-host':36B 'ship':50B 'use':60B,92C 'version':42B","nicknames":[],"mitigations":[],"who_affected":"Teams that run IBM API Connect themselves (on-premises, containers/Kubernetes or VMware OVA) at 10.0.8.0 to 10.0.8.12 or 12.1.0.0 to 12.1.1.2. IBM describes it as a remote attacker gaining full administrative control through hard-coded credentials; the CVSS vector gives no authentication or user interaction required but high attack complexity. IBM's text does not say whether default deployments are reachable, so assume yes. Teams already on 10.0.8.13 or 12.1.1.3 or later can skip it.","tier":"B","verified":{},"analyst_revisit_at":null,"fix_status":"available","audience":"businesses","plain_action":null,"pkeys":["apiconnect","connect"],"ptokens":["api","connect"],"labels":["apigateway","critical","hardcodedcredentials","ibmapiconnect","infrastructure","selfhosted"],"campaign_type":null,"search_a":"'-17403':16A,19A '-2026':15A,18A 'administr':12A 'api':2A,20A,22A 'attack':10A 'code':6A 'connect':3A,21A,23A 'control':13A 'credenti':7A 'cve':14A,17A 'full':11A 'give':8A 'hard':5A 'hard-cod':4A 'ibm':1A 'remot':9A","search_b":"'10.0.8.0':43B '10.0.8.12':45B '12.1.0.0':47B '12.1.1.2':49B 'administr':64B 'api':25B,33B,40B 'api-gateway':24B 'attack':58B 'code':29B,54B 'connect':34B,41B 'control':65B 'credenti':30B,55B 'full':63B 'gateway':26B 'get':62B 'hard':28B,53B 'hard-cod':52B 'hard-coded-credenti':27B 'host':38B 'ibm':32B,39B 'ibm-api-connect':31B 'infrastructur':35B 'product':68B 'remot':57B 'self':37B 'self-host':36B 'ship':50B 'use':60B 'version':42B","search_c":"'10.0.8.0':72C '10.0.8.12':74C '12.1.0.0':76C '12.1.1.2':78C 'administr':87C 'allow':80C 'api':70C 'attack':83C 'code':96C 'connect':71C 'control':88C 'could':79C 'credenti':97C 'due':89C 'full':86C 'gain':85C 'hard':95C 'hard-cod':94C 'ibm':69C 'remot':82C 'use':92C","first_public_at":"2026-11-07T05:18:56+00:00","kev":null,"cvss_vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H","cvss_by":"psirt@us.ibm.com","poc_count":0,"sources":[{"source":"nvd","external_id":"CVE-2026-17403","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-17403","severity":null,"published_at":"2026-11-07T05:18:56+00:00","modified_at":"2026-11-07T05:18:56+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-11-07T05:46:07+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-11-07T05:46:07+00:00","note":null},{"source":"analyst","external_id":"CVE-2026-17403:1965","url":"https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7295635","severity":null,"published_at":"2026-11-07T05:52:05+00:00","modified_at":"2026-11-07T05:52:05+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-11-07T05:52:05+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-11-07T05:52:05+00:00","note":"IBM CVE record (via OpenCVE) lists fixes 12.1.1.3 and 10.0.8.13 and cites bulletins 7295635 and 7295637; both bulletin pages were truncated before CVE-2026-17403 so I could not see its entry in the bulletin text, hence no fields marked verified. A similar but separate hard-coded-credentials CVE-2026-17360 (9.8) is in the same bulletin. No exploitation or PoC seen; no vendor mitigations/workarounds stated.","cites":["https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7295635","https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7295637","https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7290205"]}],"documents":[{"id":92834,"url":"https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7295635","title":"IBM Security Bulletin: Multiple Vulnerabilities in IBM API Connect (v12.1.1.3)","kind":"advisory","source":"analyst","publisher":null,"text":null,"published_at":null,"relation":"advisory","confidence":null,"note":null},{"id":93164,"url":"https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7295637","title":"IBM Security Bulletin: Multiple Vulnerabilities in IBM API Connect (10.0.8.13)","kind":"advisory","source":"analyst","publisher":null,"text":null,"published_at":null,"relation":"advisory","confidence":null,"note":null},{"id":93155,"url":"https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7290205","title":"IBM API Connect v12.1.1.3 is now available","kind":"release","source":"analyst","publisher":null,"text":null,"published_at":null,"relation":"fix","confidence":null,"note":null}],"exploit_sources":[],"notice":"Free to read, with fair use of about 60 pages a minute. 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