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Websphere Application ServerApplication · Ibm

CVE-2016-3042

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-10-01
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

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
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Web UI in IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS) Liberty before 16.0.0.3 allows remote authenticated users to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via vectors involving OpenID Connect clients.

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

Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty's Web UI allows authenticated users to inject arbitrary HTML or script through OpenID Connect client vectors. The vulnerability exists in versions prior to 16.0.0.3 and stems from insufficient input validation/sanitization on OpenID Connect client parameters.

MitigationUpgrade IBM WAS Liberty to version 16.0.0.3 or later. Additionally, implement proper input validation and output encoding on all OpenID Connect client parameters in the Web UI to prevent XSS attacks.

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
Websphere Application ServerApplication
Affected:all versions

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
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/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 IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty installation
    Run 'productInfo version' command or check the 'wlp/lib/versions' directory for the Liberty core version file
    Affected if The installation is not IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty (this CVE applies only to Liberty profile)
  2. Check Liberty version against affected range
    Locate the version file (typically in wlp/lib/versions) or run 'java -jar wlp/lib/ws-launcher.jar -version' to obtain the exact Liberty version
    Affected if The installed version is earlier than 16.0.0.3 (versions prior to this release are affected)
  3. Determine if OpenID Connect client is configured
    Inspect the server.xml configuration file for OpenID Connect client elements (such as oidcClient or openidConnectClient definitions) in the wlp/usr/servers/<serverName>/ directory
    Affected if OpenID Connect client is configured and accessible through the Web UI - the XSS only applies when OIDC client vectors are in use

You are affected if you run IBM WebSphere Liberty prior to version 16.0.0.3 AND have OpenID Connect client functionality enabled in the Web UI.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade IBM WAS Liberty to version 16.0.0.3 or later. Additionally, implement proper input validation and output encoding on all OpenID Connect client parameters in the Web UI to prevent XSS attacks.

Fix this in Websphere Application Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
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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-2016-3042 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