CVE-2016-5971

IBM Security Privileged Identity Manager (ISPIM) Virtual Appliance 2.x before 2.0.2 FP8 allows remote authenticated users to read arbitrary files or cause a denial of service (memory consumption) via an XML document containing an external entity declaration in conjunction with an entity reference, related to an XML External Entity (XXE) issue.

Published: 2016-09-26 Last update: 2026-05-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2016-5971 is rated Moderate Risk (48.2/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.41%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-5971

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 2025-03-30 0.98% 0.41% -0.57%
2 2025-03-29 0.38% 0.98% +0.60%
3 2025-03-17 0.38%

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-5971

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.1 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:L 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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
2.8 4.2 [email protected]
5.5 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:P 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:P)
Partial availability impact.
8.0 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-5971

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-5971

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
ibm security_privileged_identity_manager_virtual_appliance <= 2.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:security_privileged_identity_manager_virtual_appliance:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-5971

cvelogic Threat Intelligence