Omero.serverApplication · Openmicroscopy

CVE-2019-16244

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-07-22
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.6.1 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
OMERO.server before 5.6.1 allows attackers to bypass the security filters and access hidden objects via a crafted query.

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

OMERO.server versions before 5.6.1 contain a security filter bypass vulnerability allowing attackers to craft malicious queries that circumvent access controls and access hidden objects, potentially exposing sensitive medical research data.

MitigationUpgrade OMERO.server to version 5.6.1 or later to apply the security filter patch and prevent unauthorized access to hidden data objects.

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
Omero.serverApplication
Affected:< 5.6.1

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 OMERO.server version
    Run 'omero version' from the server command line, or check the web admin interface under 'Server' information, or inspect the OMERO distribution bundle version file
    Affected if The displayed version is earlier than 5.6.1 (e.g., 5.6.0, 5.5.x, 5.4.x, etc.)
  2. Confirm OMERO.server is running
    Check if the OMERO.server process is active using 'ps aux | grep omero' or by attempting to access the OMERO web client
    Affected if The server is running and the version check above shows a version below 5.6.1
  3. Verify the security filter is in use
    Review OMERO server configuration files (typically in etc/omero.properties) for security filter settings related to hidden object access controls
    Affected if Security filter configuration exists and the server version is below 5.6.1, indicating the unpatched vulnerable filter is in effect

You are affected if OMERO.server is running with a version lower than 5.6.1, as the security filter bypass vulnerability allows unauthorized access to hidden data objects.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.6.1 or later
Fixed in 5.6.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade OMERO.server to version 5.6.1 or later to apply the security filter patch and prevent unauthorized access to hidden data objects.

Recommended fix High confidence

OMERO.server 5.6.1 or later

  1. 1. Backup your OMERO.server installation directory and database before upgrading.
  2. 2. Download OMERO.server version 5.6.1 or later from the official OpenMicroscopy repository (download.openmicroscopy.org).
  3. 3. Stop the running OMERO.server service: 'omero admin stop'
  4. 4. Backup the database: create a dump of your OMERO database using pg_dump or mysqldump.
  5. 5. Extract the new OMERO.server 5.6.1+ package to your server.
  6. 6. Copy configuration files from the old installation to the new one (etc/omero.properties, etc/internal.cfg, etc/grid).
  7. 7. Run the database upgrade script: 'omero db upgrade'
  8. 8. Start the OMERO.server service: 'omero admin start'
Caveat Review OMERO 5.6.1 release notes for any configuration or dependency changes before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Omero.server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,080
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,328.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-16244 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-16244 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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