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Websphere Application ServerApplication · Ibm

CVE-2023-50313

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-04-02
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
70/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
IBM WebSphere Application Server 8.5 and 9.0 could provide weaker than expected security for outbound TLS connections caused by a failure to honor user configuration. IBM X-Force ID: 274812.

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 8.5 and 9.0 fails to honor user-defined configuration for outbound TLS connections, potentially resulting in weaker cryptographic protection than administrators expect when the application makes outbound SSL/TLS connections to external systems.

MitigationApply IBM's security patch for this vulnerability and verify that outbound TLS connections use the configured security strength by reviewing SSL configurations in the WebSphere administrative console.

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:= 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
Adjacent
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify WebSphere Application Server version
    Run the versionInfo command from the bin directory of your WebSphere installation (e.g., /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/versionInfo.sh on Linux or C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\bin\versionInfo.bat on Windows). Look for the version and edition in the output.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 8.5.0.x or 9.0.0.x (shown as 8.5 or 9.0 in versionInfo)
  2. Confirm outbound SSL/TLS configuration exists
    Access the WebSphere Administrative Console and navigate to Security > SSL certificate and key management > SSL configurations. Look for any SSL configurations that specify outbound connections to external systems, or check your application-specific SSL settings for outbound resources.
    Affected if An outbound SSL configuration is defined pointing to external endpoints
  3. Verify SSL configuration trust settings
    In the WebSphere Administrative Console, navigate to the SSL configuration used for outbound connections and examine the Trust Store settings. Check whether a custom trust store is specified and verify its configured certificate authorities.
    Affected if A custom trust store is configured but outbound TLS may still use default settings regardless of this configuration
  4. Review outbound TLS cipher specifications
    Use the WebSphere Administrative Console or wsadmin tool to inspect the SSL configuration's cipher suite settings. Navigate to SSL certificate and key management > SSL configurations > [outbound config] > Quality of protection > Cipher suite settings, and note the enabled ciphers.
    Affected if Specific ciphers are configured but the actual outbound connection may be using weaker ciphers than configured
  5. Test actual outbound TLS behavior
    Use an external monitoring tool, packet capture (such as tcpdump or Wireshark), or WebSphere trace flags to capture the actual TLS handshake when your application makes an outbound SSL/TLS connection to an external system. Compare the negotiated cipher and protocol against what is configured in the SSL configuration.
    Affected if The negotiated cipher or TLS version differs from what is configured in the outbound SSL configuration, indicating the configuration is not being honored

You are affected if you are running WebSphere Application Server version 8.5 or 9.0 and your applications make outbound TLS connections to external systems, particularly if the actual TLS behavior differs from your configured SSL settings.

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 IBM's security patch for this vulnerability and verify that outbound TLS connections use the configured security strength by reviewing SSL configurations in the WebSphere administrative console.

Fix this in Websphere Application Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2023-50313 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