# CVE-2016-8202: Privilege escalation in Fibre Channel SAN products running Brocade Fabric OS (FOS).

> An authenticated attacker can elevate privileges to root on Brocade Fibre Channel SAN devices via command line interface commands.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/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:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 8 May 2017
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-wq4q-gffr-mpf3

## What is CVE-2016-8202?

CVE-2016-8202 is a high-severity vulnerability in Broadcom Fabric Operating System, published on 8 May 2017. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A privilege escalation vulnerability in Brocade Fibre Channel SAN products running Brocade Fabric OS (FOS) releases earlier than v7.4.1d and v8.0.1b could allow an authenticated attacker to elevate the privileges of user accounts accessing the system via command line interface. With affected versions, non-root users can gain root access with a combination of shell commands and parameters.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-8202?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Broadcom Fabric Operating System.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-8202?

No fix has been published for CVE-2016-8202 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2016-8202 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-8202 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Broadcom Fabric Operating System

- [CVE-2025-1976](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-1976/): Broadcom Brocade Fabric OS Code Injection (high 8.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-22555](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-22555/): Linux Kernel Heap Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.3, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-33186](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-33186/): Command injection in Brocade Fabric OS (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-27797](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-27797/): Hardcoded credentials in Brocade Fabric OS (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-15371](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-15371/): Code injection in Brocade Fabric OS (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-8202 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-8202 is a high-severity vulnerability in Broadcom Fabric Operating System, published on 8 May 2017. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-8202 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System. 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-2016-8202/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-8202/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-8202
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-8202
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-8202

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-8202/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.