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Websphere Application ServerApplication · Ibm

CVE-2017-1503

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-10-10
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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
IBM WebSphere Application Server 7.0, 8.0, 8.5, and 9.0 is vulnerable to HTTP response splitting attacks. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability using specially-crafted URL to cause the server to return a split response, once the URL is clicked. This would allow the attacker to perform further attacks, such as Web cache poisoning, cross-site scripting, and possibly obtain sensitive information. IBM X-Force ID: 129578.

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 confidence

IBM WebSphere Application Server versions 7.0 through 9.0 contains an HTTP response splitting vulnerability due to insufficient input validation in URL handling. A remote attacker can exploit this by crafting malicious URLs containing CRLF injection sequences, causing the server to return split HTTP responses. This enables secondary attacks including web cache poisoning, cross-site scripting (XSS), and potential sensitive information disclosure.

MitigationApply the appropriate IBM WebSphere Application Server security patch for versions 7.0, 8.0, 8.5, and 9.0 from IBM Fix Central. Validate and sanitize all user-supplied input in HTTP requests to prevent CRLF injection.

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
Websphere Application ServerApplication
Affected:= 7.0= 8.0= 8.5= 9.0

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. Identify WebSphere Application Server installation
    Run the version command or check the install location: for traditional WebSphere, use 'aboutWebSphereName' MBean or check the install directory for version.info file. For Liberty, check the server.xml or run 'server version' command.
    Affected if The installed version matches 7.0, 8.0, 8.5, or 9.0 exactly as listed in the affected versions.
  2. Confirm HTTP channel is active
    Check if the WebSphere HTTP transport channel is enabled by examining the server's endpoint configuration in the admin console under Servers > Server Types > WebSphere application servers > [server] > Web container settings > Web container transport chains, or by reviewing server.xml for active HTTP or HTTPS connectors.
    Affected if The HTTP channel is listening and processing incoming requests, making the URL handling vulnerable to CRLF injection.
  3. Review HTTP request logging
    Inspect WebSphere access logs (typically in <profile>/logs/<server>/http_access.log or using the runtime MBean RequestMetrics) for any entries containing literal CRLF sequences (\r\n) or encoded newlines in request URLs.
    Affected if Malicious CRLF sequences are present in logged HTTP requests, indicating active exploitation attempts or vulnerable URL parsing.
  4. Check for web cache poisoning indicators
    Examine the HTTP response headers in server logs or capture live responses using a tool like tcpdump or a browser developer tool. Look for duplicate Set-Cookie or Location headers that could indicate response splitting has occurred.
    Affected if HTTP responses contain unexpected duplicate headers or responses appear split, with a second response starting with 'HTTP/'.
  5. Inspect input validation configuration
    Review any custom servlet filters or security constraints in web.xml and ibm-web-bnd.xml that may provide input validation on incoming requests. Also check the WebSphere global security settings for URL protection rules.
    Affected if No input validation or sanitization is applied to incoming URLs before processing, leaving the CRLF injection vector open.

A user is affected if they are running WebSphere Application Server versions 7.0, 8.0, 8.5, or 9.0 with the HTTP channel enabled and unvalidated URL input can reach the server.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the appropriate IBM WebSphere Application Server security patch for versions 7.0, 8.0, 8.5, and 9.0 from IBM Fix Central. Validate and sanitize all user-supplied input in HTTP requests to prevent CRLF injection.

Fix this in Websphere Application Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,690
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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-2017-1503 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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