Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise ModulePlugin / extension · Cisco
CVE-2016-1386
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 · uneditedThe API in Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise Module (APIC-EM) 1.0(1) allows remote attackers to spoof administrative notifications via crafted attribute-value pairs, aka Bug ID CSCux15521.
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 confidenceThe Cisco APIC-EM API in version 1.0(1) fails to properly validate attribute-value pairs in API requests, allowing remote unauthenticated attackers to craft malicious requests that spoof administrative notifications. This could enable an attacker to manipulate or impersonate administrative system communications.
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
Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise ModulePlugin / extension
= 1.0.\(1\)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
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
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 if Cisco APIC-EM is installedLocate the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise Module in your environment - check for the apic-em service, process, or installation directoryAffected if Cisco APIC-EM software is present in the environment
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Determine the installed version of Cisco APIC-EMAccess the APIC-EM management interface or use CLI commands such as 'show version' or check the software release information through the controller's web UI or APIAffected if The installed version is 1.0(1)
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Verify API service accessibilityCheck if the APIC-EM API endpoints are reachable from network locations - test connectivity to typical API ports such as 443 or 8080 and confirm the API service is respondingAffected if The API is accessible from untrusted networks or the internet
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Confirm API request validation behaviorSend a test API request with malformed attribute-value pairs to the APIC-EM API endpoint and observe if the request is accepted without proper validation error responsesAffected if API requests with invalid attribute-value pairs are accepted without validation errors
You are affected if Cisco APIC-EM version 1.0(1) is installed and its API is accessible, as the vulnerability allows unauthenticated API requests with spoofed attribute-value pairs to be processed without proper validation.
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 dataApply the Cisco patch for bug ID CSCux15521 when available. As a compensating control, restrict API access to trusted networks and implement API request logging/monitoring to detect anomalous notification patterns.
Fix this in Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise Module
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,680.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-1386 — 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-2016-1386 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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