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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 30 Jun 2022.
Netweaver Application Server JavaApplication · Sap

CVE-2016-2388

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2016-02-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 7.50 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges 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 Universal Worklist Configuration in SAP NetWeaver AS JAVA 7.4 allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive user information via a crafted HTTP request, aka SAP Security Note 2256846.

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

The Universal Worklist Configuration in SAP NetWeaver AS JAVA 7.4 contains an information disclosure vulnerability where a crafted HTTP request allows remote unauthenticated attackers to obtain sensitive user information. The vulnerability stems from improper access controls in the worklist component that exposes user data without proper authorization.

MitigationApply SAP Security Note 2256846 which provides the patch for this vulnerability. Additionally, review and restrict access to the Universal Worklist component to authorized personnel only via proper network segmentation and SAP authorization configurations.

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
Netweaver Application Server JavaApplication
Affected:>= 7.10, <= 7.50

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
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/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 checks

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

  1. Identify SAP NetWeaver AS JAVA version
    Access the SAP NetWeaver Administration console (NWAdmin) or check the SAP system information via transaction SM51, or query the SAP JVM version using the SAP Management Console. Compare the installed version against the affected range 7.10 to 7.50.
    Affected if The installed version falls within >= 7.10 and <= 7.50.
  2. Confirm Universal Worklist component is deployed
    Check if the Universal Worklist web application is deployed on the SAP NetWeaver AS JAVA system. This can be done by attempting to access the worklist endpoint via HTTP or reviewing the deployed web applications in the SAP NetWeaver Administrator (NWA) under Application Management.
    Affected if The Universal Worklist web application is deployed and accessible on the server.
  3. Test unauthenticated access to worklist data
    Send a crafted HTTP request to the Universal Worklist endpoint without providing authentication credentials. Observe whether the response contains sensitive user information such as worklist items, task assignments, or user-specific data.
    Affected if The server returns sensitive user or task information without requiring authentication.
  4. Review access control configuration
    Examine the SAP authorization configuration for the Universal Worklist component using transaction SU53 or the NWA under Identity Management to verify if proper authorization checks are enforced on worklist access.
    Affected if No authorization is required or inadequate controls are configured, allowing unauthenticated or unauthorized access to user data.

You are affected if your SAP NetWeaver AS JAVA version is between 7.10 and 7.50 AND the Universal Worklist component is accessible without authentication, returning sensitive user information.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 7.50
Interim mitigation

Apply SAP Security Note 2256846 which provides the patch for this vulnerability. Additionally, review and restrict access to the Universal Worklist component to authorized personnel only via proper network segmentation and SAP authorization configurations.

Recommended fix High confidence
  1. Apply SAP Security Note 2256846, which addresses the Universal Worklist Configuration information exposure vulnerability in SAP NetWeaver AS JAVA
  2. Download the note from the SAP Support Portal (support.sap.com) using your SAP S-user credentials
  3. Review the implementation instructions provided in the security note
  4. Implement the correction as specified in the note (typically involves updating the Universal Worklist configuration or applying the provided transport)
  5. After applying, verify the fix by testing that the vulnerable endpoint no longer exposes user information

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Netweaver Application Server Java Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.

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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-2016-2388 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