CVE-2016-3972

Exp

Directory traversal vulnerability in the dotTailLogServlet in dotCMS before 3.5.1 allows remote authenticated administrators to read arbitrary files via a .. (dot dot) in the fileName parameter.

Published: 2016-04-18 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-3972 is rated Exploit Available (51.7/100): CVSS Low severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.47%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +1.37% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2016-3972

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-3972

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.10% 1.47% +1.37%
2 2023-03-07 1.05% 0.10% -0.95%
3 2022-02-04 — 1.05% —

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-3972

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
2.7 3.0 LOW
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.2 1.4 [email protected]
4.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-3972

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-3972

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
dotcms dotcms <= 3.5 cpe:2.3:a:dotcms:dotcms:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-3972

cvelogic Threat Intelligence