CVE-2016-2408
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 · uneditedPulse Secure Desktop before 5.2R2 and Pulse Secure Installer Service before 8.2R2 and below for Windows allow restricted users to gain privileges via unspecified vectors.
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 confidenceA privilege escalation vulnerability in Pulse Secure Desktop (before 5.2R2) and Pulse Secure Installer Service (before 8.2R2) for Windows allows restricted users to gain elevated privileges via unspecified vectors.
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<= 5.6r16.0= 5.0r1.0= 5.0r2.0= 5.0r3.0= 5.0r3.1= 5.0r4.0= 5.0r4.1= 5.0r5.0= 5.0r6.0= 5.0r7.0= 5.0r8.0= 5.0r8.1= 5.0r9.0= 8.0r1.0= 8.0r1.1= 8.0r2.0= 8.0r3.0= 8.0r3.1= 8.0r3.2= 8.0r4.0= 8.0r4.1= 8.0r5.0= 8.0r6.0= 8.0r7.0= 8.0r7.1= 7.4r1.0= 7.4r2.0= 7.4r3.0= 7.4r4.0= 7.4r5.0= 7.4r6.0= 7.4r7.0= 7.4r8.0= 7.4r9.0= 7.4r9.1= 7.4r9.2= 7.4r9.3CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 installed Pulse Secure productsOpen Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product' in PowerShell, to list installed software containing 'Pulse Secure' in the nameAffected if Any Pulse Secure product is installed (Odyssey Access Client, Pulse Secure Desktop, or Pulse Secure Installer Service)
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Determine the exact version of Pulse Secure DesktopIf Pulse Secure Desktop is installed, check its version via the Windows registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{GUID} or by right-clicking the executable and selecting Properties > DetailsAffected if Version matches 5.0r1.0 through 5.0r9.0 inclusive (versions before 5.2R2)
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Determine the version of Pulse Secure Installer ServiceCheck the version of the Pulse Secure Installer Service by locating the installation service executable (typically in C:\Program Files\Pulse Secure\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Pulse Secure\) and viewing its file properties, or via services.msc > right-click Pulse Secure Installer Service > PropertiesAffected if Version matches 8.0r1.0 through 8.0r7.1, or 7.4r1.0 through 7.4r9.3 (versions before 8.2R2)
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Check for Odyssey Access Client versionIf Odyssey Access Client is installed, check its version in Programs and Features or via the executable propertiesAffected if Version is 5.6r16.0 or lower
The environment is affected if any Pulse Secure Desktop version is 5.0r1.0 through 5.0r9.0, any Pulse Secure Security/Installer Service version is 7.4r1.0 through 8.0r7.1, or Odyssey Access Client is 5.6r16.0 or lower.
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 dataUpgrade Pulse Secure Desktop to version 5.2R2 or later, and Pulse Secure Installer Service to version 8.2R2 or later, to remediate the privilege escalation vulnerability.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-2408 — 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-2016-2408 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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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.
- 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