# CVE-2016-1990: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can escalate privileges to execute arbitrary commands on HPE ArcSight ESM servers, requiring immediate patching.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 16 Mar 2016
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-3qm9-52c7-2c7g

## What is CVE-2016-1990?

CVE-2016-1990 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 16 Mar 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

HPE ArcSight ESM 5.x before 5.6, 6.0, 6.5.x before 6.5C SP1 Patch 2, and 6.8c before P1, and ArcSight ESM Express before 6.9.1, allows local users to gain privileges for command execution via unspecified vectors.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-1990?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Microfocus Arcsight Enterprise Security Manager.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-1990?

No fix has been published for CVE-2016-1990 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2016-1990 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-1990 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2014-7885](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-7885/): Other in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2021-38124](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-38124/): Command injection in ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM). (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-1991](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1991/): Path traversal in n/a (high 8.0)
- [CVE-2021-38126](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-38126/): Cross-site scripting in ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) (medium 6.1)
- [CVE-2021-38127](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-38127/): Cross-site scripting in ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) (medium 6.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-1990 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-1990 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 16 Mar 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-1990 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1990/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1990/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-1990
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-1990
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-1990

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1990/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.