CVE-2016-9606 — resteasy-bom
HIGHCVE-2016-9606 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.1) Improper Input Validation vulnerability in org.jboss.resteasy:resteasy-bom. A fix is available for org.jboss.resteasy:resteasy-bom — see the affected versions and patch details below.
JBoss RESTEasy vulnerable to Improper Input Validation
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2016-9606 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
org.jboss.resteasy:resteasy-bomReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
JBoss RESTEasy before version 3.1.2 could be forced into parsing a request with YamlProvider, resulting in unmarshalling of potentially untrusted data which could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code with RESTEasy application permissions.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.jboss.resteasy:resteasy-bom | all versions | 3.1.2.Finalorg.jboss.resteasy:resteasy-bom:3.1.2.Final |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.jboss.resteasy:resteasy-bom, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.jboss.resteasy:resteasy-bom to 3.1.2.Final or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2016-9606 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2016-9606 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2016-9606. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
YamlProvider was removed the default list of providers to prevent a malicous user from requesting a payload be marshalled with Yaml. If marshalling of Yaml content is desired, add, or append a file with the name 'META-INF/services/javax.ws.rs.ext.Providers' to your WAR, or JAR with the contents…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat JBoss BPMS 6.4 | see advisory | RHSA-2017:1675 |
| Red Hat JBoss BPMS 7.1 | see advisory | RHSA-2018:2909 |
| Red Hat JBoss BRMS 6.4 | see advisory | RHSA-2017:1676 |
| Red Hat JBoss BRMS 7.1 | see advisory | RHSA-2018:2913 |
| Red Hat JBoss EAP 7 | see advisory | RHSA-2017:1409 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.4 | see advisory | RHSA-2017:1255 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.4 for RHEL 5 | hibernate4-eap6-0:4.2.26-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el5 | RHSA-2017:1256 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.4 for RHEL 6 | hibernate4-eap6-0:4.2.26-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el6 | RHSA-2017:1254 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2016-9606 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2016-9606 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.