CVE-2016-2945
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 · uneditedThe API Discovery implementation in IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS) 8.5.5.8 through 8.5.5.9 Liberty before Liberty Fix Pack 16.0.0.2 allows remote authenticated users to gain privileges via an external reference in a Swagger document.
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 confidenceThe API Discovery implementation in IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty 8.5.5.8-8.5.5.9 allows authenticated users to gain elevated privileges by embedding malicious external references in Swagger API documentation files.
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= 8.5.5.8= 8.5.5.9CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/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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Check WebSphere Liberty versionRun the productInfo version command from the Liberty installation bin directory, or inspect the lib/versions/webspherelibertyversion.txt fileAffected if The installed version is exactly 8.5.5.8 or 8.5.5.9
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Verify API Discovery feature is enabledInspect the server.xml configuration file (typically in usr/servers/<serverName>/) and look for the apiDiscovery-1.0 feature in the <featureManager> sectionAffected if The apiDiscovery-1.0 feature is listed in the server.xml features
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Locate Swagger API documentation filesSearch for .json or .yaml files containing Swagger or OpenAPI definitions in the apps directory, dropins directory, or any user-defined document root directoriesAffected if API documentation files exist and the API Discovery feature is enabled
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Inspect Swagger files for external referencesExamine the found Swagger/OpenAPI files for suspicious external $ref references pointing to untrusted URLs or internal system paths that could allow privilege escalationAffected if The Swagger files contain external or absolute path references that were not intentionally configured by the administrator
A user is affected if they run exactly version 8.5.5.8 or 8.5.5.9 AND have the API Discovery feature (apiDiscovery-1.0) enabled, making it possible for authenticated users to embed malicious external references in Swagger documentation.
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 IBM Liberty Fix Pack 16.0.0.2 or later to address the vulnerability; alternatively, disable the API Discovery feature if not required in production environments.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 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 $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-2945 — 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-2016-2945 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