CVE-2016-2901
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 · uneditedCross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the PA_Theme_Creator application in IBM WebSphere Portal 8.5 CF08 through CF10 and Web Content Manager allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users for requests that insert XSS sequences.
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 confidenceCSRF vulnerability in IBM WebSphere Portal's PA_Theme_Creator application allows remote attackers to inject XSS sequences by tricking authenticated users into submitting malicious requests, hijacking their session authentication.
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= 8.5.0.0all 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 IBM WebSphere Portal versionCheck the installed WebSphere Portal version using the WebSphere Integrated Solutions Console or the versionInfo command in the Portal bin directoryAffected if The installed version equals exactly 8.5.0.0
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Determine if IBM Web Content Manager is runningVerify if Web Content Manager module is enabled and accessible in the WebSphere Portal environment through the portal administration interfaceAffected if Web Content Manager is enabled and running (all versions are affected)
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Confirm PA_Theme_Creator application is accessibleCheck if the Theme Creator portlet or theme customization feature is deployed and accessible within the portal. Look for the PA_Theme_Creator application in the WebSphere applications listAffected if PA_Theme_Creator application is deployed and active in the portal
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Inspect Theme Creator forms for anti-CSRF protectionExamine the HTML source of forms within the PA_Theme_Creator/Theme Creator interface. Look for hidden token fields (such ascsrfToken, LtpaToken2, or similar) in form submissionsAffected if Forms in Theme Creator lack anti-CSRF token parameters or the tokens are not validated server-side
A user is affected if they run IBM WebSphere Portal 8.5.0.0 or any IBM Web Content Manager version with the PA_Theme_Creator component accessible and without anti-CSRF token validation in its forms.
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 dataImplement anti-CSRF tokens (synchronizer token pattern) in all forms and state-changing actions within the PA_Theme_Creator component, and validate the Origin/Referer headers server-side.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 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 $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-2901 — 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-2016-2901 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data