CVE-2020-5016: IBM WebSphere Application Server

Medium severity, CVSS 6.5. EPSS: 2.5% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

IBM WebSphere Application Server 7.0, 8.0, 8.5, and 9.0 could allow a remote attacker to traverse directories on the system. When application security is disabled and JAX-RPC applications are present, an attacker could send a specially-crafted URL request containing "dot dot" sequences (/../) to view arbitrary xml files on the system. This does not occur if Application security is enabled. IBM X-Force ID: 193556.

Affected products

• IBM WebSphere Application Server: from 7.0.0.0, up to and including 7.0.0.45; from 8.0.0.0, up to and including 8.0.0.15; from 8.5.0.0, up to and including 8.5.5.19; from 9.0.0.0, up to and including 9.0.5.6

Published 2021-03-10. Last modified 2026-06-17.