CVE-2016-10651
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 · uneditedwebdriver-launcher is a Node.js Selenium Webdriver Launcher. webdriver-launcher downloads binary resources over HTTP, which leaves it vulnerable to MITM attacks. It may be possible to cause remote code execution (RCE) by swapping out the requested binary with an attacker controlled binary if the attacker is on the network or positioned in between the user and the remote server.
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 confidenceThe webdriver-launcher npm package downloads Selenium WebDriver binaries over unencrypted HTTP connections. This allows man-in-the-middle attackers to intercept the download and inject malicious code by replacing the legitimate binary with an attacker-controlled one, potentially achieving remote code execution on the victim's machine.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/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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Check if webdriver-launcher is installedRun 'npm list webdriver-launcher' or check package.json for the dependencyAffected if The package is listed as a dependency in node_modules or package.json
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Examine the package's download source codeNavigate to node_modules/webdriver-launcher and inspect the source files that handle binary downloads (typically index.js, download.js, or similar)Affected if Code contains HTTP URLs (http://) for downloading Selenium WebDriver binaries instead of HTTPS (https://)
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Search for HTTP URL patterns in package filesUse 'grep -r "http://" node_modules/webdriver-launcher/' to find all HTTP URLs in the packageAffected if Any http:// URLs are found pointing to selenium or webdriver binary download locations
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Verify download implementationReview the download function that retrieves WebDriver binaries to confirm it uses unencrypted HTTPAffected if The download function constructs URLs using http:// scheme rather than https://
If the webdriver-launcher package is present and its download logic uses http:// URLs instead of https:// for fetching Selenium WebDriver binaries, the environment is vulnerable to this CVE.
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 dataReplace all HTTP URLs with HTTPS in the package's download logic and implement checksum verification for downloaded binaries to ensure integrity and authenticity.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-10651 — 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-2016-10651 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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