CVE-2015-4941
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 · uneditedIBM WebSphere MQ Light 1.x before 1.0.2 mishandles abbreviated TLS handshakes, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (MQXR service crash) 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 confidenceIBM WebSphere MQ Light versions prior to 1.0.2 contains a denial of service vulnerability where the MQXR service crashes when handling malformed or unexpected abbreviated TLS handshakes. Remote attackers can exploit this by sending specially crafted TLS handshake messages, causing the service to become unavailable.
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= 1.0= 1.0.0.1CVSS 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
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
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 WebSphere MQ Light installationCheck for WebSphere MQ Light installation directory and retrieve version information. On Windows, look in Program Files/IBM/WebSphere MQ Light. On Linux/Unix, check /opt/mqlight or the installation directory. Locate the version file or run 'mqlight -version' if available.Affected if The installed version is 1.0 or 1.0.0.1 (versions prior to 1.0.2)
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Verify MQXR service statusDetermine if the MQXR service is running. On Windows, check Windows Services for 'WebSphere MQ Light' or 'MQXR Service'. On Linux, check process list for mqlight or xr service processes using 'ps aux | grep mqlight' or 'systemctl status mqlight'.Affected if The MQXR service is enabled and running, exposing the TLS handshake handler
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Confirm network exposure of MQXR serviceCheck listener configuration for the MQXR service port (default 5671 for AMQPS or 1883 for MQTT). Review firewall rules and network ACLs. Use 'netstat -an | grep 5671' or 'netstat -an | grep 1883' to identify listening addresses.Affected if The MQXR service is listening on accessible network interfaces (0.0.0.0 or external IP) rather than localhost only
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Review TLS configurationExamine MQXR service configuration files for TLS settings. Check client connection definitions and whether TLS/SSL is enabled. Look for any non-standard or abbreviated TLS handshake configurations.Affected if TLS is enabled for the MQXR service, making it susceptible to malformed handshake handling vulnerability
A user is affected if WebSphere MQ Light version 1.0 or 1.0.0.1 is installed with the MQXR service enabled and accessible over the network.
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 MQ Light to version 1.0.2 or later to address the TLS handshake handling flaw. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, consider network-level controls to limit exposure of the MQXR service to untrusted networks.
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- Implementation4.0 h
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- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-4941 — 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-2015-4941 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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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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