dbcve.org
PuremessageApplication · Sophos

CVE-2016-6217

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-01-26
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.3.2 or later.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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 · unedited
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Sophos PureMessage for UNIX before 6.3.2 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML 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 · low confidence

Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Sophos PureMessage for UNIX versions prior to 6.3.2 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via unspecified vectors in the product's web interface or quarantine notification system.

MitigationUpgrade Sophos PureMessage for UNIX to version 6.3.2 or later to address the vulnerability. As a temporary measure, implement input validation and output encoding on user-supplied data displayed in the web interface.

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
PuremessageApplication
Affected:< 6.3.2

CVSS 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
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Determine installed PureMessage version
    Run the command 'pmx --version' or check the RPM package with 'rpm -qa | grep -i sophos' or 'rpm -qa | grep -i puremessage' to retrieve the installed version number.
    Affected if The version displayed is lower than 6.3.2 (for example, 6.3.1, 6.3.0, 6.2.x, etc.)
  2. Verify web interface is accessible
    Check if the Sophos PureMessage web interface port (typically 8082 or 8443) is open and responding using 'netstat -tlnp | grep -E "8082|8443"' or attempt to access the web interface URL.
    Affected if The web interface port is open and reachable from the network or from user browsers.
  3. Check quarantine notification system status
    Review the PureMessage configuration for quarantine notification settings using 'pmx config get quarantine' or check if email notifications containing HTML links are generated.
    Affected if Quarantine notifications are enabled and display HTML content to users.

You are affected if the installed Sophos PureMessage for UNIX version is below 6.3.2 AND the web interface or quarantine notification system is enabled and accessible to users.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.3.2 or later
Fixed in 6.3.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Sophos PureMessage for UNIX to version 6.3.2 or later to address the vulnerability. As a temporary measure, implement input validation and output encoding on user-supplied data displayed in the web interface.

Fix this in Puremessage Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,280
Get the upgrade done

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 locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-6217 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-6217 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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.

What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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