Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2016-9553


The Sophos Web Appliance (version 4.2.1.3) is vulnerable to two Remote Command Injection vulnerabilities affecting its web administrative interface. These vulnerabilities occur in the MgrReport.php (/controllers/MgrReport.php) component responsible for blocking and unblocking IP addresses from accessing the device. The device doesn't properly escape the information passed in the variables 'unblockip' and 'blockip' before calling the shell_exec() function which allows for system commands to be injected into the device. The code erroneously suggests that the information handled is protected by utilizing the variable name 'escapedips' - however this was not the case. The Sophos ID is NSWA-1258.


Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.2, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 1 product from sophos organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

First disclosed in 2017, this vulnerability was reported during a period defined by widespread IoT adoption challenges, mobile security concerns, and the emergence of advanced persistent threat (APT) techniques. Contemporary mitigation strategies focused on secure development practices and third-party component vetting.


Published

2017-01-28T12:59:00.133

Last Modified

2025-04-20T01:37:25.860

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.0: 7.2 (HIGH)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C

  • Access Vector: NETWORK
  • Access Complexity: LOW
  • Authentication: SINGLE
  • Confidentiality Impact: COMPLETE
  • Integrity Impact: COMPLETE
  • Availability Impact: COMPLETE
Exploitability Score

8.0

Impact Score

10.0

Weaknesses
  • Type: Primary
    CWE-77

Affected Vendors & Products
Type Vendor Product Version/Range Vulnerable?
Application sophos web_appliance 4.2.1.3 Yes

References

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For sophos's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.