Websphere Mq LightApplication · Ibm

CVE-2015-1987

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-08-03
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
87/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
IBM MQ Light before 1.0.0.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (disk consumption) via a crafted byte sequence in authentication data, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-1956 and CVE-2015-1958.

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 confidence

IBM MQ Light versions prior to 1.0.0.2 are vulnerable to a denial of service attack where remote attackers send crafted byte sequences within authentication data, causing excessive disk consumption. This appears to be an input validation flaw where malformed authentication requests trigger unbounded logging or storage behavior, eventually filling the disk and rendering the service unavailable.

MitigationUpgrade IBM MQ Light to version 1.0.0.2 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Consider implementing disk monitoring and alerting as a compensating control until the upgrade is completed.

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
Websphere Mq LightApplication
Affected:= 1.0= 1.0.0.1

CVSS 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
None
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify IBM MQ Light installation and version
    Locate the MQ Light installation directory and check the version information file or use the version command provided with the product. Common locations include /opt/mqlight or the installation directory defined during setup.
    Affected if The installed version is 1.0 or 1.0.0.1 specifically.
  2. Confirm authentication is enabled
    Review the MQ Light configuration to determine whether client authentication is configured and active. Check the security or authentication settings in the MQ Light configuration files or administration interface.
    Affected if Authentication is enabled and accepting connections, as the vulnerability is triggered by malformed authentication data.
  3. Monitor disk usage and log growth
    Observe disk space consumption on the partition where MQ Light stores logs, data, or temporary files. Use system monitoring tools to track if log files or data directories are growing unusually fast or excessively.
    Affected if Disk usage is increasing rapidly or log files are expanding beyond normal bounds without typical rotation or cleanup.
  4. Inspect authentication logs for anomalies
    Examine MQ Light authentication and security logs for patterns of malformed requests, repeated failed authentication attempts with unusual byte sequences, or error messages related to authentication processing.
    Affected if Logs contain repeated authentication errors, warnings about malformed data, or entries showing unusual request patterns.

You are affected if IBM MQ Light version 1.0 or 1.0.0.1 is installed with authentication enabled, and you observe unexplained disk consumption or unusual authentication-related log activity.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade IBM MQ Light to version 1.0.0.2 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Consider implementing disk monitoring and alerting as a compensating control until the upgrade is completed.

Fix this in Websphere Mq Light Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,080
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-1987 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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