Description

IBM WebSphere Application Server 9.0, and 8.5 is affected by an authorization bypass vulnerability.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "3.1",
  "pubDate": "2026-09-14T20:16:40.143Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-09-14T20:16:40.143Z",
  "executiveSummary": "An authorization bypass vulnerability has been identified in IBM WebSphere Application Server 8.5 and 9.0.\nThe vulnerability allows remote, unauthenticated or authenticated attackers to circumvent established security constraints, potentially accessing restricted resources or administrative functions.\nThis flaw resides within the application server's request handling and access control enforcement mechanisms.\nSuccessful exploitation may lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information, unauthorized execution of administrative actions, or system compromise depending on the target configuration.\nThe vulnerability poses a significant risk to organizational security posture by undermining the integrity of the application server's access control model.\nAttackers can leverage this vulnerability without requiring specific user privileges, significantly increasing the potential attack surface for environments hosting sensitive enterprise applications.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability exists in the security interceptor logic of IBM WebSphere Application Server 8.5 and 9.0, specifically within the module responsible for mapping incoming HTTP requests to defined security constraints.\nThe root cause is rooted in improper handling of request URI normalization or inconsistent interpretation of path segments between the web container and the security engine. When an attacker sends a crafted request containing specific encoding or path traversal sequences, the security interceptor may fail to map the request to the correct protected resource, or erroneously deem the request to be outside the scope of enforced access policies.\nIn a typical attack flow, an attacker identifies a target resource that is restricted via web.xml or application-level security constraints. By manipulating the request URI using techniques such as double URL encoding, directory traversal characters (e.g., ../), or null byte injection, the attacker forces the security enforcement module to perform an incorrect path matching operation.\nIf the security engine fails to canonicalize the path correctly before performing the authorization check, it may permit access to a restricted servlet, JSP, or administrative console endpoint that should have been blocked. This bypass effectively allows the requester to operate with an elevated or default permission set not intended for the requested endpoint.\nThe vulnerable component is the WebSphere security framework that manages resource protection. Because this framework operates at the container level, the bypass impacts any application deployed on the server that relies on standard J2EE/Jakarta EE declarative security.\nExploitation does not inherently require prior authentication, as the flaw resides at the entry point of the request processing pipeline where security constraints are evaluated. Consequently, an attacker can access protected resources without a valid session token.\nPost-exploitation impact includes unauthorized access to administrative interfaces, potential remote code execution if administrative endpoints are reachable and exploitable, and the exfiltration of sensitive configuration data or business information stored within the protected application context."
}