CVE-2016-4889
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 · uneditedZOHO ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus before 9.0 allows remote authenticated guest users to have unspecified impact by leveraging failure to restrict access to unknown functions.
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 confidenceZOHO ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus before version 9.0 contains an access control vulnerability where remote authenticated guest users can access functions that should be restricted to higher-privilege users, leading to unspecified impact.
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<= 8.2CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/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.
-
Identify ServiceDesk Plus versionAccess the application's About page in the web interface (typically at /About.do) or check the version file in the installation directory (version.txt or similar)Affected if The installed version is 8.2 or lower, or the version cannot be determined and the product is known to be ServiceDesk Plus
-
Confirm guest user authentication is enabledLog into the admin console and navigate to User Settings > User Authentication, or check the application's user management interface to verify if guest user access is permittedAffected if Guest user authentication is enabled and guest accounts exist in the system
-
Inspect guest user role permissionsNavigate to the admin interface under Roles or User Management, select the Guest role, and review the assigned permissions and accessible modulesAffected if The Guest role has permissions beyond basic read-only access, or has access to administrative or configuration functions
-
Verify guest user can access higher-privilege functionsLog in as a guest user and attempt to access functions typically restricted to admin or technician roles, such as configuration pages, asset management, or workflow settingsAffected if A guest user can successfully access functions that should require administrator or technician privileges
The environment is affected if ServiceDesk Plus version 8.2 or lower is running with guest user authentication enabled and the guest role permits access to privileged functions.
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 ServiceDesk Plus to version 9.0 or later to obtain the patch, and conduct a review of guest user role permissions to ensure proper access controls are enforced.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,656.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-4889 — 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-2016-4889 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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