Prime HomeApplication · Cisco
CVE-2016-6408
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 · uneditedCisco Prime Home 5.2.0 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via an XML document containing an external entity declaration in conjunction with an entity reference, related to an XML External Entity (XXE) issue, aka Bug ID CSCvb17814.
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 Cisco Prime Home 5.2.0. Attackers can exploit the insecure XML parser configuration by submitting crafted XML documents containing external entity declarations paired with entity references. This allows remote unauthenticated attackers to read arbitrary files from the server's filesystem, potentially exposing sensitive configuration files, credentials, or other data.
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
Prime HomeApplication
= 5.2.0CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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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Confirm Cisco Prime Home is installedIdentify the Cisco Prime Home application running on the system by checking installed software, running services, or web application directoriesAffected if Cisco Prime Home is found running on the system
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Verify the installed versionDetermine the exact version of Cisco Prime Home by checking the application's about page, version file, or service informationAffected if The installed version is exactly 5.2.0
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Inspect XML parser configurationLocate and review the XML parser configuration files used by the application, looking for settings related to external entity processing and DTD processingAffected if External entity or DTD processing is enabled in the XML parser configuration
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Check for XXE-prone XML endpointsIdentify XML-handling endpoints or APIs within the Cisco Prime Home web interface that accept user-submitted XML contentAffected if The application accepts XML input at unauthenticated or authenticated endpoints without disabling external entities
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Review server filesystem accessExamine application logs and filesystem for any unauthorized access or file reads that may indicate exploitation of XXEAffected if Evidence exists of arbitrary file reads or unusual XML-related errors in logs
A user is affected if they are running Cisco Prime Home version 5.2.0 with an XML parser configuration that permits external entity or DTD processing.
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 dataDisable external entity processing and DTD (Document Type Definition) processing in the XML parser configuration, or apply vendor-supplied patches/upgrade to a patched version of Cisco Prime Home.
Fix this in Prime Home
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $3,408.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-6408 — 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-2016-6408 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