CVE-2014-3070
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe addFileRegistryAccount Virtual Member Manager (VMM) SPI Admin Task in IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS) 8.0.x before 8.0.0.10 and 8.5.x before 8.5.5.3 does not properly create accounts, which allows remote attackers to bypass intended access restrictions via unspecified vectors.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe addFileRegistryAccount Virtual Member Manager (VMM) SPI Admin Task in IBM WebSphere Application Server versions 8.0.x before 8.0.0.10 and 8.5.x before 8.5.5.3 does not properly validate or create user accounts in the file-based registry, allowing remote attackers to bypass intended access restrictions through improper account creation.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 8.5.0.0= 8.5.0.1= 8.5.0.2= 8.5.5.0= 8.5.5.1= 8.5.5.2= 8.0.0.0= 8.0.0.1= 8.0.0.2= 8.0.0.3= 8.0.0.4= 8.0.0.5CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed WebSphere Application Server versionRun the versionInfo command from the bin directory: ./versionInfo.sh (Unix) or versionInfo.bat (Windows). Alternatively, check the installedApps directory or the About WebSphere Application Server panel in the admin console.Affected if The installed version is 8.0.0.0 through 8.0.0.9, or 8.5.0.0 through 8.5.5.2 (excluding 8.5.5.3 and later, and 8.0.0.10 and later)
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Determine if file-based registry is configuredIn the WebSphere admin console, go to Security > Global Security > User account repository. Check if the repository type is set to 'File-based user registry' or inspect the security.xml configuration file for the <fileBasedRegistry> element set to true.Affected if The WebSphere installation uses a file-based registry (fileRegistry) rather than an LDAP or other external user repository
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Verify the VMM SPI Admin Task is accessibleCheck if the wsadmin scripting interface is accessible and whether the addFileRegistryAccount task can be invoked. This typically requires administrative credentials. Inspect the admin-authz.xml or security.xml to see if admin task execution is enabled.Affected if The wsadmin interface or administrative task execution is enabled and accessible (even with valid credentials, the flaw allows improper account creation)
You are affected if your WebSphere Application Server version falls within 8.0.0.0-8.0.0.9 or 8.5.0.0-8.5.5.2 AND you are using a file-based user registry with the administrative interfaces accessible.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade IBM WebSphere Application Server to version 8.0.0.10 or later, or 8.5.5.3 or later. Additionally, restrict network access to the WAS administrative interfaces to limit exposure.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-3070 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2014-3070 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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