SfosOperating system · Sophos

CVE-2018-16116

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-06-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable Zero-click

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
SQL injection vulnerability in AccountStatus.jsp in Admin Portal of Sophos XG firewall 17.0.8 MR-8 allow remote authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands via the "username" GET parameter.

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 confidence

SQL injection vulnerability in AccountStatus.jsp within the Admin Portal of Sophos XG firewall allows authenticated remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands via the username GET parameter. The vulnerability stems from improper input sanitization allowing SQL commands to be injected into database queries.

MitigationApply vendor patch or upgrade to a fixed version of Sophos XG firewall that addresses this vulnerability. If no patch available, implement input validation and parameterized queries on the username parameter.

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
SfosOperating system
Affected:= 17.0.8

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 Sophos XG firewall version
    Access the Admin Portal dashboard or run 'version' command in console to retrieve the installed Sophos Sfos firmware version
    Affected if Installed version equals exactly 17.0.8
  2. Confirm Admin Portal is accessible
    Verify that the Sophos Admin Portal web interface (typically ports 443 or 4444) is reachable from your network
    Affected if Admin Portal is exposed and responds to requests
  3. Locate AccountStatus.jsp endpoint
    Attempt to access /AccountStatus.jsp or similar path in the Admin Portal web directory
    Affected if AccountStatus.jsp file exists and is accessible without authentication or with valid authentication
  4. Verify username parameter handling
    Inspect HTTP requests to the Admin Portal for any use of the 'username' GET parameter in AccountStatus.jsp or related endpoints
    Affected if The username parameter is processed without parameterized queries or input sanitization

You are affected if your Sophos Sfos firewall is exactly version 17.0.8, the Admin Portal is accessible, and the username parameter in AccountStatus.jsp accepts unsanitized input.

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 vendor patch or upgrade to a fixed version of Sophos XG firewall that addresses this vulnerability. If no patch available, implement input validation and parameterized queries on the username parameter.

Fix this in Sfos Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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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-2018-16116 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