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Messaging GatewayApplication · Symantec

CVE-2016-2204

HIGH · 8.2 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-04-22
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 10.6.0 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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
The management console on Symantec Messaging Gateway (SMG) Appliance devices before 10.6.1 allows local users to obtain root-shell access via crafted terminal-window input.

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

Local privilege escalation vulnerability in Symantec Messaging Gateway (SMG) Appliance management console before version 10.6.1. Authenticated local users can obtain root-shell access by providing crafted input through the terminal-window feature.

MitigationUpgrade Symantec Messaging Gateway to version 10.6.1 or later, or apply vendor-supplied security patches to remediate the privilege escalation vector.

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
Messaging GatewayApplication
Affected:<= 10.6.0= 10.6.0

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Symantec Messaging Gateway is installed
    Check for SMG installation by looking for /opt/Symantec, or run 'rpm -qa | grep -i symantec' or 'dpkg -l | grep -i symantec' to list installed Symantec packages
    Affected if The product is not installed or cannot be determined
  2. Check the SMG version
    Run 'dmesg | grep -i symantec' or check the management console login page for version information, or look in /etc/*release for version details
    Affected if Installed version is 10.6.0 or lower (any version <= 10.6.0)
  3. Verify terminal-window feature access
    Access the SMG management console and check if the terminal-window or similar command execution feature is available to authenticated local users in the administrative interface
    Affected if Authenticated local users have access to a terminal or command execution feature in the management console

If Symantec Messaging Gateway version 10.6.0 or earlier is installed and authenticated local users can access the management console terminal feature, the environment is affected by this CVE.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 10.6.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Symantec Messaging Gateway to version 10.6.1 or later, or apply vendor-supplied security patches to remediate the privilege escalation vector.

Fix this in Messaging Gateway Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,130
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,408.

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-2016-2204 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