# CVE-2017-3540: Denial of service in WebCenter Sites

> Unauthenticated attackers can cause a complete denial of service and unauthorized data access in Oracle WebCenter Sites via HTTP.

- **Severity:** High 8.6 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 24 Apr 2017
- **Updated:** 4 Oct 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-r295-r47h-rmq2

## What is CVE-2017-3540?

CVE-2017-3540 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Oracle Webcenter Sites, published on 24 Apr 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Vulnerability in the Oracle WebCenter Sites component of Oracle Fusion Middleware (subcomponent: Server). Supported versions that are affected are 11.1.1.8.0, 12.2.1.0.0, 12.2.1.1.0 and 12.2.1.2.0. Easily "exploitable" vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Oracle WebCenter Sites. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized ability to cause a hang or frequently repeatable crash (complete DOS) of Oracle WebCenter Sites as well as unauthorized update, insert or delete access to some of Oracle WebCenter Sites accessible data and unauthorized read access to a subset of Oracle WebCenter Sites accessible data. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 8.6 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H).

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-3540?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Oracle Webcenter Sites.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-3540?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-3540 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2017-3540 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-3540 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Oracle Webcenter Sites

- [CVE-2026-46798](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46798/): Auth bypass in Oracle WebCenter Sites (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2026-46800](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46800/): Auth bypass in Oracle WebCenter Sites (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2026-61021](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-61021/): Auth bypass in Oracle WebCenter Sites (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2026-60552](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-60552/): Auth bypass in Oracle WebCenter Sites (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2026-61018](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-61018/): Auth bypass in Oracle WebCenter Sites (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-3540 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-3540 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Oracle Webcenter Sites, published on 24 Apr 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-3540 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Oracle Webcenter Sites. 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-2017-3540/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-3540/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-3540
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-3540
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-3540

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-3540/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.