CVE-2016-1928
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 · uneditedBuffer overflow in the XS engine (hdbxsengine) in SAP HANA allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service or execute arbitrary code via a crafted HTTP request, related to JSON, aka SAP Security Note 2241978.
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 confidenceA buffer overflow vulnerability exists in SAP HANA's XS Engine (hdbxsengine) that can be exploited remotely via crafted HTTP requests containing malicious JSON data. This critical flaw (CVSS 9.8) allows attackers to potentially execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service conditions.
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
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/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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Identify SAP HANA installationLocate SAP HANA installation directories (typically under /usr/sap/HAN<sid> or C:\Program Files\sap\hdb<sid>) and identify the HANA database instance.Affected if SAP HANA software is installed on the system.
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Verify XS Engine service is runningCheck for the hdbxsengine process or service, and verify that XS Engine is enabled. Common ports for XS Engine are 8000, 8080, or 4300 (HTTPS). Use commands like 'ps -ef | grep hdbxsengine' on Linux or check Windows services.Affected if The hdbxsengine process or XS Engine service is active.
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Determine XS Engine versionQuery the SAP HANA XS Engine version via the XS Admin tool, SAP HANA Studio, or by accessing the XS Engine landing page (e.g., https://<host>:8000). Alternatively, check the HANA database version using 'HDB version' command or SELECT * FROM M_DATABASE.Affected if The installed version has not applied SAP Security Note 2241978.
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Check network exposure of XS EngineReview firewall rules and network configuration to determine if XS Engine HTTP/HTTPS ports (8000, 8080, 4300) are accessible from untrusted networks. Use 'netstat -an | grep -E "(8000|8080|4300)"' to list listening ports.Affected if XS Engine endpoints are exposed to the internet or untrusted internal networks.
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Inspect HTTP access logs for anomalous JSONReview XS Engine access logs (typically in /usr/sap/HAN<sid>/XS/log or Windows equivalent) for requests with unusually large or malformed JSON payloads that may indicate exploitation attempts.
A system is affected if it runs SAP HANA with XS Engine (hdbxsengine) enabled and accessible, and the patch from SAP Security Note 2241978 has not been applied.
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 SAP Security Note 2241978 to patch the vulnerability. As an interim measure, restrict network access to the XS Engine endpoints and monitor for suspicious HTTP requests with abnormal JSON payloads.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-1928 — 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-2016-1928 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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