CVE-2016-0263
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 Spectrum Scale 4.1 before 4.1.1.5 and 4.2 before 4.2.0.2 and General Parallel File System 3.5 before 3.5.0.30 allow local users to gain privileges or cause a denial of service via a crafted mmapplypolicy command.
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 confidenceLocal privilege escalation and DoS vulnerability in IBM Spectrum Scale (formerly GPFS) and GPFS caused by improper input validation in the mmapplypolicy command, allowing local users to execute arbitrary code or crash the service.
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= 3.5.0.1= 3.5.0.2= 3.5.0.3= 3.5.0.4= 3.5.0.5= 3.5.0.6= 3.5.0.7= 3.5.0.8= 3.5.0.9= 3.5.0.10= 3.5.0.11= 3.5.0.12= 4.1.1.1= 4.1.1.2= 4.1.1.3= 4.1.1.4= 4.2.0.0= 4.2.0.1CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify IBM Spectrum Scale or GPFS is installedRun 'lsgpfs' or check for /usr/lpp/mmfs/ directory, or run 'mmfsadm dump version'Affected if The product is not present - if present, continue to version check
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Determine installed version of GPFS/Spectrum ScaleRun 'mmlsconfig' and look for 'productVersion' or 'gpfsVersion' values in the output, or use 'mmfsadm dump version'Affected if Version matches 3.5.0.1-3.5.0.12, 4.1.1.1-4.1.1.4, 4.2.0.0, or 4.2.0.1 (these are the vulnerable versions)
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Confirm mmapplypolicy command is availableRun 'which mmapplypolicy' or check that /usr/lpp/mmfs/bin/mmapplypolicy existsAffected if Command is not found - if found, the vulnerable component is present
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Check if non-privileged users can invoke mmapplypolicyRun 'ls -la /usr/lpp/mmfs/bin/mmapplypolicy' to view permissions, then test as a non-root user with 'mmapplypolicy -h'Affected if Non-privileged users have execute permission and can run the command without authentication failures
You are affected if IBM Spectrum Scale or GPFS is installed with a version matching 3.5.0.1-3.5.0.12, 4.1.1.1-4.1.1.4, 4.2.0.0, or 4.2.0.1 AND the mmapplypolicy command is accessible to local users.
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 Spectrum Scale to 4.1.1.5+/4.2.0.2+ or GPFS to 3.5.0.30+ to patch the vulnerability; apply principle of least privilege to restrict mmapplypolicy access until upgrade is possible.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $11,200.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-0263 — 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-2016-0263 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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