CVE-2016-4931
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 · uneditedXML entity injection in Junos Space before 15.2R2 allows attackers to cause a denial of service.
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 confidenceThis is an XML External Entity (XXE) injection vulnerability in Juniper Junos Space network management platform. The vulnerability allows remote attackers to cause denial of service by submitting malicious XML containing external entity references that cause resource exhaustion or parsing errors. All versions of Junos Space before version 15.2R2 are affected.
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<= 15.2CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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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Confirm Junos Space is deployedIdentify whether Juniper Junos Space network management platform is installed in your environment. Look for the software on management servers or check system inventory for 'Junos Space' or 'Juniper Networks Junos Space' as an installed product.Affected if Junos Space is present in your environment
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Determine installed Junos Space versionAccess the Junos Space web interface or CLI and retrieve the version number. In the web UI, this is typically shown in the System Settings or About section. From CLI, use the command 'show version' or check the /etc/*release file if accessible.Affected if The installed version is 15.2 or any earlier version (anything below 15.2R2)
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Identify XML-handling interfacesLocate any web URLs, API endpoints, or services within Junos Space that accept XML input. These typically include the REST API interface, web service APIs, or any configuration import functionality that processes XML documents.Affected if XML input endpoints are accessible and the XXE vulnerability can be triggered
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Check external entity parsing behaviorSubmit a test XML request containing an external entity reference (such as <!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM "file:///etc/passwd">) to an accessible Junos Space XML endpoint and observe whether the parser attempts to resolve the external reference or returns an error indicating external entity processing.Affected if The XML parser processes external entity references without rejecting them
You are affected if Junos Space is installed and the version is 15.2 or earlier, since the XXE vulnerability exists in all versions before 15.2R2.
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 Junos Space to version 15.2R2 or later to apply the vendor patch. If immediate patching is not feasible, implement XML input validation at upstream web application firewalls or API gateways to filter potentially malicious entity declarations.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-4931 — 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-2016-4931 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
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