CVE-2016-4042
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 · uneditedPlone 3.3 through 5.1a1 allows remote attackers to obtain information about the ID of sensitive content 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 confidencePlone versions 3.3 through 5.1a1 contain an information disclosure vulnerability allowing remote attackers to obtain IDs of sensitive content through unspecified vectors. This is an information leakage issue with CVSS 5.3 severity.
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= 3.3= 3.3.1= 3.3.2= 3.3.3= 3.3.4= 3.3.5= 3.3.6= 4.0= 4.0.1= 4.0.2= 4.0.3= 4.0.4CVSS 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/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 Plone versionLocate the Plone installation directory and check the version file or use the management interface to view the product version. On Unix systems, this may be in /opt/plone or the virtual environment directory. Check for a version.txt or use 'pip show plone' if installed via pip.Affected if The installed version is 3.3, 3.3.1, 3.3.2, 3.3.3, 3.3.4, 3.3.5, 3.3.6, 4.0, 4.0.1, 4.0.2, 4.0.3, 4.0.4, or any version between 3.3 and 5.1a1 inclusive.
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Verify Plone patch levelAccess the Plone control panel or site setup area. Navigate to the version information or About page to confirm the exact version number including any patch updates that may have been applied.Affected if The exact version matches any of the affected versions listed or falls within the 3.3 through 5.1a1 range.
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Audit content IDs for exposureReview application logs and HTTP responses when accessing content items. Use a web proxy or browser developer tools to examine responses from the Plone site. Check whether sensitive content IDs (such as content in restricted folders, user folders, or administrative areas) appear in URL parameters, API responses, or error messages.Affected if Content IDs from restricted or sensitive areas are visible in responses to unauthenticated or low-privilege users.
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Review endpoint access patternsAnalyze the access logs for the Plone site. Look for requests to content enumeration endpoints, search functionality, or navigation paths that may leak content identifiers. Check both authenticated and unauthenticated access patterns.Affected if Unauthenticated or low-privileged users can retrieve content IDs through any application endpoint or API.
A Plone installation is affected if it runs version 3.3 through 5.1a1 and allows unauthorized users to obtain sensitive content IDs through any application endpoint or response.
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 dataUpdate Plone to the latest patched version to remediate this vulnerability. Verify that sensitive content IDs are not exposed through any application endpoints.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-4042 — 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-2016-4042 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