CVE-2016-5016
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 · uneditedPivotal Cloud Foundry 239 and earlier, UAA (aka User Account and Authentication Server) 3.4.1 and earlier, UAA release 12.2 and earlier, PCF (aka Pivotal Cloud Foundry) Elastic Runtime 1.6.x before 1.6.35, and PCF Elastic Runtime 1.7.x before 1.7.13 does not validate if a certificate is expired.
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 confidenceThe UAA (User Account and Authentication Server) in Pivotal Cloud Foundry fails to validate certificate expiration dates during TLS/SSL handshakes. This allows expired certificates to be accepted for authentication, potentially enabling man-in-the-middle attacks and compromising the trust model of the authentication system.
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<= 239>= 1.6.0, < 1.6.35>= 1.7.0, < 1.7.13<= 3.4.1<= 12.2CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/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.
-
Identify UAA versionRun 'uaac target' to connect to UAA, then 'uaac version' to get the version. Alternatively, check the bosh deployment manifest or Ops Manager tile version for the UAA component.Affected if The installed UAA version is 3.4.1 or lower, or UAA Release 12.2 or lower
-
Identify Cloud Foundry Elastic Runtime versionCheck the Elastic Runtime tile version in Pivotal Ops Manager, or run 'bosh deployments' and examine the release version. This applies if using the full Cloud Foundry stack.Affected if Elastic Runtime version is 1.6.0 through 1.6.34, or 1.7.0 through 1.7.12, or Cloud Foundry version 239 or lower
-
Confirm UAA TLS/SSL is enabledCheck the UAA configuration manifest or SSL termination settings. Look for uaah.tls.enabled or similar SSL/TLS configuration flags in the deployment manifest.Affected if UAA is configured to accept HTTPS/TLS connections and the version is in the affected range above
-
Verify certificate validation behaviorAttempt a test TLS connection to the UAA endpoint using an expired test certificate (for example, using openssl s_client with an expired cert). Observe whether the connection is accepted despite the certificate being expired.Affected if Expired certificates are accepted during TLS handshake, confirming the validation flaw is present
You are affected if your deployed UAA version is 3.4.1 or lower (or UAA Release 12.2 or lower), or Elastic Runtime is 1.6.34/1.7.12 or lower, AND UAA TLS/SSL authentication is enabled.
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 data1.6.351.7.13
Enable proper certificate expiration validation in the UAA component by upgrading to UAA 3.4.2+/12.3+ or PCF Elastic Runtime 1.6.35+/1.7.13+ as specified in the advisory.
- Consultation3.0 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 $3,648.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-5016 — 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-2016-5016 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