CVE-2016-3985
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 Terminal Services Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) client session restrictions feature in Pulse Connect Secure (aka PCS) 8.1R7 and 8.2R1 allow remote authenticated users to bypass intended access restrictions 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 confidencePulse Connect Secure 8.1R7 and 8.2R1 contain a flaw in the Terminal Services RDP client session restrictions feature where authenticated remote users can bypass intended access restrictions, potentially allowing unauthorized RDP session access.
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= 8.1r7= 8.2r1CVSS 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Pulse Connect Secure versionAccess the admin console or use system information commands to retrieve the exact version number of Pulse Connect SecureAffected if The installed version is 8.1R7 or 8.2R1 exactly
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Determine if Terminal Services RDP client is configuredReview Pulse Connect Secure admin settings to confirm if Terminal Services RDP client session feature is enabledAffected if Terminal Services RDP client feature is enabled and in use
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Inspect RDP session restriction settingsExamine the session restrictions configuration panel for the Terminal Services RDP client in the admin interfaceAffected if Session restrictions are defined but may be bypassable due to the flaw
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Review user role assignments for RDP accessCheck which authenticated user roles have been granted Terminal Services RDP client access permissionsAffected if Authenticated users with RDP client access exist in the system
You are likely affected if running exactly version 8.1R7 or 8.2R1 and the Terminal Services RDP client session restrictions feature is enabled for authenticated users.
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 Connect Secure to a version beyond 8.2R1 where the vulnerability is patched. If immediate patching is not possible, review and enforce additional network-level access controls for RDP services.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 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 $3,328.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-3985 — 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-2016-3985 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
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