CVE-2016-8967
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 · uneditedIBM BigFix Inventory v9 9.2 stores user credentials in plain in clear text which can be read by a local user.
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 confidenceIBM BigFix Inventory v9.2 stores user credentials in plaintext on the local filesystem. Any user with local access to the system can read these unencrypted credentials, potentially gaining unauthorized access to the application and its 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= 9.2.0= 9.2CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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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Identify installed version of IBM BigFix Inventory or IBM License Metric ToolUse system inventory tools or check the application's About/Version information to determine if the installed version is 9.2 for BigFix Inventory or 9.2.0 for License Metric ToolAffected if The installed version is exactly 9.2 (BigFix Inventory) or 9.2.0 (License Metric Tool)
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Locate credential storage filesSearch the application installation directory and configuration folders for files that store user credentials or authentication data (commonly named config, credentials, users, passwords, or similar)Affected if Credential files exist in the application directories readable by local users
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Inspect credential files for plaintext passwordsOpen and examine the content of identified credential storage files using a text viewer or editorAffected if Credentials such as usernames and passwords are stored in human-readable plaintext format within the files
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Verify file permissions on credential storageCheck the file system permissions on credential storage files to determine if they are readable by non-privileged usersAffected if Standard users other than the application administrator can read the credential files
A user is affected if they have IBM BigFix Inventory v9.2 or IBM License Metric Tool v9.2.0 installed and credential files on the local filesystem contain plaintext passwords readable by local users.
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 dataMigrate to a secure credential storage mechanism such as hashing with salted cryptographic functions, using an external credential vault, or leveraging OS-level credential management. Existing plaintext credentials must be securely migrated to the new storage mechanism.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation20.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-8967 — 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-2016-8967 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data