Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Remote crafted request needs no auth or interaction (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N); an auth bypass to protected resources plausibly yields high C/I/A, though SSVC 'partial' impact leaves some doubt.
Primary rating from Vendor (us).
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
6DescriptionNVD
IBM WebSphere Application Server 9.0, and 8.5 could allow a remote attacker to bypass authentication by sending a crafted unauthenticated request.
AnalysisAI
Authentication bypass in IBM WebSphere Application Server 9.0 and 8.5 allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to send a specially crafted request and reach protected resources without valid credentials, with CVSS rating full compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The flaw stems from missing authorization enforcement (CWE-862) and carries a CVSS 9.8 requiring no user interaction or privileges. There is no public exploit identified at time of analysis and it is not on CISA KEV; EPSS is low at 0.31% (24th percentile) and CISA SSVC currently rates exploitation as 'none' with only partial technical impact.
Technical ContextAI
IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS) is a Java EE/Jakarta EE enterprise application server used to host mission-critical web applications, web services, and middleware integrations in large enterprises. The affected releases are the long-supported 9.0 and traditional 8.5 (V8.5.5) trains, identified in NVD CPE data as cpe:2.3:a:ibm:websphere_application_server. The root cause maps to CWE-862 (Missing Authorization): a request path exists where the server fails to enforce an authorization check that should gate access, so a crafted unauthenticated request reaches functionality that should require valid credentials. This class of flaw typically arises from a specific servlet, admin interface, or SOAP/REST endpoint whose security constraint check is omitted or mishandled.
RemediationAI
Patch available per vendor advisory: apply the interim fix (iFix) or fix pack IBM specifies for your affected 9.0 or 8.5 release as documented at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7281628 - take the exact patched build directly from that page, as no specific fix version is provided in the source data. Because this is a network-reachable unauthenticated bypass, if patching cannot be immediate, apply compensating controls: restrict network access to the WebSphere HTTP/HTTPS and administrative (SOAP/IPC, admin console) ports to trusted management networks via firewall/segmentation; place affected endpoints behind a reverse proxy or WAF that enforces authentication on the vulnerable path; and disable or firewall off non-essential remote administrative or web-service endpoints. Trade-offs: IP allowlisting and proxy-enforced auth may break legitimate remote integrations and monitoring, and a WAF rule is only as reliable as the (non-public) crafted-request pattern - treat these as stopgaps until the IBM fix is applied.
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Same weakness CWE-862 – Missing Authorization
View allSame technique Authentication Bypass
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External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today
EUVD-2026-50016
GHSA-78h9-3p2w-5gmr