Severity by source
AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Network vector with no auth required (PR:N), but AC:H reflects mandatory proxy-parsing differential; full C/I/A impact from session poisoning is credible.
Primary rating from Vendor (ibm).
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
5DescriptionNVD
IBM WebSphere Application Server 9.0, and 8.5 and IBM WebSphere Application Server - Liberty 17.0.0.3 through 26.0.0.7 is vulnerable to HTTP request smuggling.
AnalysisAI
HTTP request smuggling in IBM WebSphere Application Server (versions 8.5 and 9.0) and WebSphere Application Server Liberty (17.0.0.3 through 26.0.0.7) enables remote unauthenticated attackers to poison shared HTTP connections between a front-end proxy and the application server backend. The CVSS 8.1 score reflects full confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact (C:H/I:H/A:H) but is constrained by high attack complexity (AC:H), requiring a specific proxy-to-WAS pipeline configuration to exploit. No public exploit is identified at time of analysis; EPSS is very low at 0.21% (11th percentile) and SSVC confirms no known exploitation, though technical impact is rated total.
Technical ContextAI
CWE-444 - 'Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests (HTTP Request Smuggling)' - describes the root cause: when a front-end proxy or load balancer and a back-end application server disagree on where HTTP/1.1 request boundaries fall, typically through conflicting handling of Content-Length and Transfer-Encoding headers or HTTP/2-to-HTTP/1.1 downgrade paths. IBM WebSphere Application Server is a mature Java EE/Jakarta EE platform widely deployed in large enterprise environments, while the Liberty profile (cpe:2.3:a:ibm:websphere_application_server_-_liberty) is IBM's lightweight, modular variant designed for microservices and cloud workloads. Both share the HTTP parsing layer vulnerable to this class of attack. Affected CPEs are cpe:2.3:a:ibm:websphere_application_server:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* (versions 8.5, 9.0) and cpe:2.3:a:ibm:websphere_application_server_-_liberty:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* (17.0.0.3 through 26.0.0.7).
RemediationAI
The primary fix is the vendor-released patch documented in IBM's advisory at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7281625; administrators should consult this page directly for the exact iFix or Fix Pack version applicable to their WebSphere or Liberty release, as the specific fix version is not independently confirmed from available data. As compensating controls while patch deployment is assessed: restrict WebSphere and Liberty instances to accept inbound HTTP connections only from explicitly trusted, internally controlled reverse proxies rather than direct public internet exposure - this significantly raises the bar for the AC:H exploitation path without eliminating it. Where the proxy layer permits, disable or restrict HTTP/1.1 keep-alive connections or enforce strict Transfer-Encoding header handling at the proxy, though this may degrade throughput for high-volume workloads. Network segmentation placing WebSphere behind internal trust boundaries materially reduces exploitability given that the smuggling chain requires a specific proxy-to-backend pipeline.
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Same weakness CWE-444 – HTTP Request/Response Smuggling
View allSame technique Information Disclosure
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External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today
EUVD-2026-50020
GHSA-f3v3-mj3c-p68c