Websphere MqApplication · Ibm

CVE-2016-0260

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-06-29
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
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
Memory leak in queue-manager agents in IBM WebSphere MQ 8.x before 8.0.0.5 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (heap memory consumption) by triggering many errors.

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

A memory leak exists in queue-manager agents within IBM WebSphere MQ version 8.x prior to 8.0.0.5. The vulnerability allows remote attackers to trigger repeated error conditions, causing heap memory consumption to grow unbounded until the queue-manager exhausts available memory and becomes unresponsive.

MitigationApply IBM WebSphere MQ patch 8.0.0.5 or later to resolve the memory leak in queue-manager agents.

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 MqApplication
Affected:= 8.0= 8.0.0.1= 8.0.0.2= 8.0.0.3= 8.0.0.4

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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. Determine IBM WebSphere MQ installed version
    Run the 'dspmqver' command or check the installation directory for version information. On Linux/Unix: /opt/mqm/bin/dspmqver. On Windows: check the installation via control panel or run 'mqconfig' if available.
    Affected if The version shown is 8.0, 8.0.0.1, 8.0.0.2, 8.0.0.3, or 8.0.0.4.
  2. Identify active queue-managers
    Use the 'runmqsc -q' command or 'dspmq' command to list all queue-managers and their status. Check which queue-managers are in running state.
    Affected if Any queue-manager is running on an affected version of WebSphere MQ 8.x prior to 8.0.0.5.
  3. Verify queue-manager agent configurations
    Inspect queue-manager configuration files and running processes related to the queue-manager. Use 'runmqsc QMGRNAME' to display queue manager attributes and agent channel configurations.
    Affected if Queue-manager agents are configured and active on a vulnerable version.
  4. Monitor heap memory consumption
    Observe the memory usage of queue-manager processes (typically runmqbm or amqzxma0 processes) over time. Use system monitoring tools like 'ps', 'top', or Windows Task Manager to track growing heap usage.
    Affected if Memory usage of queue-manager processes grows continuously without stabilizing, indicating the leak is active.

A system is affected if IBM WebSphere MQ version 8.0.x (where x is 0-4) is installed and queue-managers are running, as the memory leak in queue-manager agents will cause unbounded heap growth under repeated error conditions.

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

Apply IBM WebSphere MQ patch 8.0.0.5 or later to resolve the memory leak in queue-manager agents.

Fix this in Websphere Mq Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,380
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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-2016-0260 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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data