How severe is CVE-2015-7450?

CVE-2015-7450 has a CVSS score of 9.8/10, rated CRITICAL. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which products are affected by CVE-2015-7450?

CVE-2015-7450 affects the following products: ibm sterling b2b integrator, ibm sterling integrator, ibm tivoli common reporting, ibm watson content analytics, ibm watson explorer analytical components, ibm watson explorer annotation administration console, ibm websphere application server.

How do I patch CVE-2015-7450?

No patch has shipped for CVE-2015-7450 yet — track the ibm sterling b2b integrator advisory for a fixed release and apply the workarounds below in the meantime.

How do I detect CVE-2015-7450 across my infrastructure?

Inventory every ibm sterling b2b integrator deployment and check each version against the affected-products list above.

How do I mitigate CVE-2015-7450 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Do not deserialise data from untrusted sources: where the format allows it, restrict deserialisation to an explicit allowlist of expected types, and prefer a data-only format (JSON, Protobuf) over one that can reconstruct arbitrary objects until you can upgrade. Alongside that, restrict the management interface to trusted networks and apply the vendor's recommended configuration mitigations.

Is CVE-2015-7450 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 6 known exploit references for CVE-2015-7450, including 1 documented proof-of-concept exploit on Exploit-DB and 4 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2015-7450?

CVE-2015-7450 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 97.8%, placing it in the 100th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Is CVE-2015-7450 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2015-7450 (IBM WebSphere Application Server and Server Hypervisor Edition Code Injection.) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2022-01-10. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2022-07-10. The required action was: Apply updates per vendor instructions. Being listed in the KEV catalog is the strongest possible confirmation of active exploitation — treat this as a critical priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2015-7450?

CVE-2015-7450 is classified as Deserialization of Untrusted Data (CWE-502). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

Which products and versions are affected by CVE-2015-7450?

CVE-2015-7450 affects ibm sterling b2b integrator (1 version, e.g. 5.2); ibm sterling integrator (1 version, e.g. 5.1); ibm tivoli common reporting (8 versions, e.g. 2.1, 2.1.1, 2.1.1.2…); ibm watson content analytics, and 3 more product(s). Check the affected-products list on this page against your deployed version to confirm exposure.

Is there exploit tooling available for CVE-2015-7450?

A Nuclei detection template exists for CVE-2015-7450, meaning automated scanners can fingerprint it. Public exploit tooling significantly increases real-world risk — prioritize patching and ensure detection coverage. Exploit tooling should only ever be used in isolated, authorized testing environments.

When was CVE-2015-7450 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2015-7450 was published on January 2, 2016 and was last updated on June 17, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🛡️

CISA KEV · ACTIVELY EXPLOITED

CRITICAL severity

CVE-2015-7450 — Sterling B2b Integrator

CRITICAL

CVE-2015-7450 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in ibm sterling b2b integrator. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-01-10) — treat it as actively exploited and patch now. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.

Serialized-object interfaces in certain IBM analytics, business solutions, cognitive, IT infrastructure, and mobile and social products allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands…

Published

Jan 2, 2016

Updated

Jun 17, 2026

Affected

7 products

Patched

See advisory

Exploits

6 known

Exploitation data as of Oct 22, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

Actively exploited in the wild

Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-01-10. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2022-07-10.
CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.

Exploitation and automatability from CISA (KEV catalog and SSVC triage) for CVE-2015-7450.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

97.8%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk+0.11%

Lower risk than most CVEs100th percentile — riskier than 100% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2015-7450 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). In the shaded patch-first corner (EPSS 50%+, CVSS 7.0+).

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 394,803 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the ≥ 90% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.

Description

Serialized-object interfaces in certain IBM analytics, business solutions, cognitive, IT infrastructure, and mobile and social products allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a crafted serialized Java object, related to the InvokerTransformer class in the Apache Commons Collections library.

Affected Products

7 products · 21 configurations

Application

sterling b2b integratoribm

1 version

5.2

Application

sterling integratoribm

1 version

5.1

Application

tivoli common reportingibm

8 versions

2.12.1.12.1.1.23.13.1.0.13.1.0.23.1.23.1.2.1

Application

watson content analyticsibm

≥ 3.5 && ≤ 3.5.0.3

range

Application

watson explorer analytical componentsibm

≥ 10.0 && ≤ 10.0.0.2

1 version

11.0

Application

watson explorer annotation administration consoleibm

≥ 10.0 && ≤ 10.0.0.2

1 version

11.0

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

EDB-41613remotewindows✓ Verified

IBM WebSphere - RCE Java Deserialization (Metasploit)

by Metasploit · Mar 15, 2017

Exploit-DB Source

Detection & mitigation playbook

Vendor / appliance

Detect
Inventory every ibm sterling b2b integrator deployment and check each version against the affected-products list above.
Remediation status
No patch has shipped for CVE-2015-7450 yet — track the ibm sterling b2b integrator advisory for a fixed release and apply the workarounds below in the meantime.
Mitigate without a patch
Do not deserialise data from untrusted sources: where the format allows it, restrict deserialisation to an explicit allowlist of expected types, and prefer a data-only format (JSON, Protobuf) over one that can reconstruct arbitrary objects until you can upgrade. Alongside that, restrict the management interface to trusted networks and apply the vendor's recommended configuration mitigations.

How to detect CVE-2015-7450

A community-maintained Nuclei template exists for this CVE. You can scan for it directly:

nuclei -id cve-2015-7450 -u https://target

Template: IBM WebSphere Java Object Deserialization - Remote Code Execution
Severity: critical
Impact: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability can lead to remote code execution, allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the affected system.
Remediation: Apply the latest security patches provided by IBM to mitigate this vulnerability.

Template by ProjectDiscovery nuclei-templates (wdahlenb), MIT licensed. View the full template. Scan only systems you are authorised to test.

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Runtime Protection

Is CVE-2015-7450 being exploited in your environment?

Detect and block the exploit chain at execution, on systems you cannot patch yet.

Protect my workloads How runtime protection works

CVE-2015-7450 — Sterling B2b Integrator

Exploitation Status

Actively exploited in the wild

EPSS Exploitation Probability

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Description

Affected Products

Detection & mitigation playbook

Detect

Remediation status

Mitigate without a patch

How to detect CVE-2015-7450

Frequently Asked Questions

Is CVE-2015-7450 being exploited in your environment?