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PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2016-4315 Wso2 CVE debrief

CVE-2016-4315 is a cross-site request forgery issue in WSO2 Carbon 4.4.5 that can be abused to make a privileged user’s browser send a shutdown request to the server-admin/proxy_ajaxprocessor.jsp endpoint. The practical impact is denial of service: if a privileged session is tricked into issuing the action, the server can be shut down without the attacker needing direct authentication to the target.

Vendor
Wso2
Product
CVE-2016-4315
CVSS
MEDIUM 5.7
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2017-02-17
Original CVE updated
2026-05-13
Advisory published
2017-02-17
Advisory updated
2026-05-13

Who should care

Organizations running WSO2 Carbon 4.4.5, especially administrators and security teams responsible for exposed WSO2 management interfaces. This matters most where privileged users can reach the server-admin console from a browser and where shutdown or other sensitive administrative actions are available through session-authenticated requests.

Technical summary

NVD classifies the issue as CWE-352 (CSRF) with CVSS v3.0 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H, reflecting a network-reachable attack that depends on a user with privileges and browser interaction. The vulnerable CPE is wso2:carbon:4.4.5. The attack path described in the record targets a shutdown action via server-admin/proxy_ajaxprocessor.jsp, allowing an attacker to hijack a privileged user’s authenticated request flow and cause service interruption.

Defensive priority

Medium. The issue is externally reachable and can cause high availability impact, but it requires both a privileged session and user interaction. It should be prioritized promptly for systems that expose WSO2 admin functions or have weak browser-session protections.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Review and apply the WSO2 security advisory for CVE-2016-4315 and any vendor-provided fix or mitigation for Carbon 4.4.5.
  • Restrict access to WSO2 administration endpoints, including server-admin paths, to trusted management networks or VPN-only access.
  • Ensure administrative actions are protected with robust CSRF defenses such as anti-CSRF tokens and origin/referer validation.
  • Reduce the chance of session abuse by enforcing secure session handling, short admin session lifetimes, and least-privilege access for administrators.
  • Monitor for unexpected shutdown requests and related administrative actions in WSO2 logs and surrounding infrastructure telemetry.

Evidence notes

All statements are derived from the supplied CVE record and its referenced metadata. The record identifies CVE-2016-4315 as a CSRF issue in WSO2 Carbon 4.4.5, with impact on server shutdown through server-admin/proxy_ajaxprocessor.jsp. NVD lists CWE-352 and CVSS v3.0 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H. The supplied references also include an official WSO2 security advisory and multiple third-party advisories/exploit references, but this debrief relies only on the vulnerability description, NVD metadata, and reference labels provided in the corpus.

Official resources

Publicly disclosed on 2017-02-17. The supplied enrichment shows no KEV listing. NVD metadata was last modified on 2026-05-13, but that is not the vulnerability issue date.