CVE-2016-9757
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 · uneditedIn the Create Tags page of the Rapid7 Nexpose version 6.4.12 user interface, any authenticated user who has the capability to create tags can inject cross-site scripting (XSS) elements in the tag name field. Once this tag is viewed in the Tag Detail page of the Rapid7 Nexpose 6.4.12 UI by another authenticated user, the script is run in that user's browser context.
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 confidenceStored XSS vulnerability in Rapid7 Nexpose 6.4.12 where an authenticated user with tag creation capability can inject malicious JavaScript into the tag name field. When other authenticated users view the affected tag in the Tag Detail page, the injected script executes in their browser context.
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= 6.4.12CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Nexpose versionAccess the Nexpose administration interface or check the product version through the web console. Navigate to Help > About or check the version displayed on the login page. Alternatively, check the installation directory for version files or run: nexpose-cli -v (if CLI tools are available).Affected if The installed version is exactly 6.4.12
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Verify user has tag creation capabilityLog into Nexpose with an administrative account and navigate to Administration > Users and Roles. Locate the target user account and check their assigned roles. Examine whether the role includes permissions for creating or managing tags.Affected if The user account being assessed has a role that permits tag creation or tag management
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Examine existing tags for suspicious contentNavigate to the Tags management interface in Nexpose. Review all existing tag names for any that contain unusual characters such as <script>, javascript:, onerror, onload, or other HTML/JavaScript patterns. Export the tag list if possible to perform text search.Affected if Any tag name contains executable script content or HTML tags that could execute in a browser context
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Verify access to Tag Detail pageAttempt to access the Tag Detail page by clicking on any tag in the Tags listing. Observe whether the page renders tag names without sanitization. Check if the URL follows a pattern like /tag/{tag-id}/detail.Affected if The Tag Detail page renders tag names with raw HTML/JavaScript without encoding
A user is affected if they are running Nexpose version 6.4.12 and can access tags created by other users in the Tag Detail page without sanitization.
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 dataImplement input validation and context-aware output encoding for the tag name field to neutralize script execution. Upgrade to a patched version of Nexpose if available, and consider implementing Content Security Policy headers as a defense-in-depth measure.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-9757 — 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-2016-9757 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
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