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PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2016-0217 IBM CVE debrief

CVE-2016-0217 is a stored cross-site scripting issue in IBM Cognos Business Intelligence and IBM Cognos Analytics. IBM and NVD describe the flaw as improper validation of user-supplied input, which could let a remote attacker inject script into a page viewed by another user. If successful, the script runs in the context of the hosting web site and could expose cookie-based authentication credentials.

Vendor
IBM
Product
CVE-2016-0217
CVSS
MEDIUM 5.4
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2017-02-01
Original CVE updated
2026-05-13
Advisory published
2017-02-01
Advisory updated
2026-05-13

Who should care

Administrators and security teams responsible for IBM Cognos Business Intelligence or IBM Cognos Analytics deployments, especially environments where authenticated users can create, submit, or view shared content.

Technical summary

NVD classifies the weakness as CWE-79 and rates it CVSS 3.0 5.4 (Medium) with AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N. The attack requires network access, low privileges, and user interaction, but it can impact the security context of the hosting site. The affected NVD CPEs listed are IBM Cognos Analytics 11.0.0 through 11.0.4. IBM references a vendor advisory/patch notice for remediation.

Defensive priority

Medium. The vulnerability is not rated critical, but it can still affect authenticated sessions and stored content in business intelligence portals, so remediation should be scheduled promptly for exposed or widely used Cognos deployments.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Follow IBM PSIRT guidance in the vendor advisory and apply the provided patch or fix as soon as practical.
  • Review Cognos features that accept user-supplied content and ensure strict server-side validation and output encoding are in place where applicable.
  • Limit who can create or edit shared content in Cognos to reduce the chance of stored payload placement.
  • Monitor for anomalous script execution, unusual session activity, or signs of credential theft in Cognos user sessions.
  • Prioritize patching externally reachable or heavily used Cognos instances because the flaw can be triggered through ordinary web browsing by a victim.

Evidence notes

This debrief is based only on the supplied CVE/NVD record and its listed references. The record states the issue is a stored XSS in IBM Cognos BI and IBM Cognos Analytics, caused by improper validation of user input, with possible cookie theft. The NVD record also supplies the CVSS vector CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N and CWE-79. Timeline context uses the CVE published date 2017-02-01 and NVD modified date 2026-05-13 from the supplied data.

Official resources

CVE published: 2017-02-01T22:59:00.133Z. NVD record modified: 2026-05-13T00:24:29.033Z. This debrief uses the published CVE date as the issue date and does not treat the later modified date as the vulnerability disclosure date.