Web GatewayApplication · Symantec

CVE-2015-5693

HIGH · 7.9 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-09-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 5.2.2 or later.
See remediation →
85/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable 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
The management console on Symantec Web Gateway (SWG) appliances with software before 5.2.2 DB 5.0.0.1277 allows remote authenticated users to execute arbitrary commands via vectors related to "traffic capture."

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 · moderate confidence

Authenticated command injection vulnerability in the management console of Symantec Web Gateway (SWG) appliances. The flaw exists in the traffic capture functionality and allows remote authenticated users to execute arbitrary operating system commands with elevated privileges.

MitigationApply vendor patch version 5.2.2 DB 5.0.0.1277 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict network access to the management console to trusted IP addresses only using firewall rules or VPN access controls.

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
Web GatewayApplication
Affected:<= 5.2.2

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
M
Authentication
Multiple
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:M/Au:M/C:C/I:C/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. Confirm Symantec Web Gateway is installed
    Check the appliance for presence of SWG by looking for the management console web interface or checking for /opt/symantec(swg) directories if shell access is available.
    Affected if Symantec Web Gateway software is found on the system
  2. Check installed SWG version
    Access the management console and navigate to the About or System Information page to view the version number, or run 'swg-version' command via shell if available.
    Affected if The version number is 5.2.2 or lower
  3. Verify management console is network-accessible
    Attempt to reach the SWG management console web interface on the expected ports (typically 443/HTTPS) from your detection position.
    Affected if The management console is reachable over the network from untrusted locations
  4. Check if traffic capture feature is accessible
    Log into the management console and navigate to the Traffic Capture or Packet Capture functionality under the relevant monitoring or network settings section.
    Affected if Traffic capture functionality exists and the authenticated user can access it

A system is affected if it runs Symantec Web Gateway version 5.2.2 or lower and has its management console with traffic capture feature network-accessible to authenticated users.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 5.2.2
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor patch version 5.2.2 DB 5.0.0.1277 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict network access to the management console to trusted IP addresses only using firewall rules or VPN access controls.

Fix this in Web Gateway Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,080
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,928.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-5693 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-5693 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data