CVE-2018-1719
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 WebSphere Application Server 8.5 and 9.0 could provide weaker than expected security under certain conditions. This could result in a downgrade of TLS protocol. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to perform man-in-the-middle attacks. IBM X-Force ID: 147292.
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 WebSphere Application Server 8.5 and 9.0 could be configured to accept weaker than expected TLS protocols, allowing a remote attacker during a man-in-the-middle attack to force a protocol downgrade to vulnerable TLS versions (such as TLS 1.0/1.1 or earlier) and intercept encrypted communications.
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>= 8.5.0.0, <= 8.5.5.14>= 9.0.0.0, <= 9.0.0.8CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/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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Identify WebSphere Application Server versionRun the versionInfo command from the bin directory (versionInfo.bat or versionInfo.sh) or check the installedServerXml directory for the version file. Alternatively, log into the Admin Console and navigate to Servers > Server Types > WebSphere application servers and select your server to view the version information.Affected if The installed version falls within 8.5.0.0 through 8.5.5.14 or 9.0.0.0 through 9.0.0.8
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Locate SSL configurationsLog into the WebSphere Admin Console and navigate to Security > SSL certificate and key management > SSL configurations, or use wsadmin to list SSL configurations with the AdminTask listSSLConfigurations command.Affected if SSL configurations exist and are in use
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Check enabled TLS protocol versionsFor each SSL configuration, view the properties and check the 'Supported SSL protocols' or 'Minimum TLS protocol version' setting. Look for SSLv3, TLS 1.0, or TLS 1.1 being enabled or allowed as the minimum version.Affected if TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, or SSLv3 are enabled or permitted as the minimum protocol version
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Check global SSL settingsNavigate to Security > SSL certificate and key management > SSL configurations > Default SSL settings in the Admin Console, or check the ssl.client.props and ssl.server.props configuration files in the properties directory.Affected if The default or global settings allow protocol versions weaker than TLS 1.2
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Verify inbound and outbound SSL configurationsCheck both the inbound (server-side) and outbound (client-side) SSL configurations by reviewing the SSL configurations assigned to the HTTP transports on your application servers and to the outbound connection definitions.Affected if Any active SSL configuration allows weak TLS protocols for either inbound or outbound connections
You are affected if your WebSphere version is 8.5.0.0-8.5.5.14 or 9.0.0.0-9.0.0.8 AND any SSL configuration permits TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, or SSLv3 as supported or minimum protocols.
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 legacy TLS protocols (SSLv3, TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1) in the WebSphere SSL configuration and restrict connections to TLS 1.2 or higher only.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-1719 — 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-2018-1719 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
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