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CVE-2016-3643

7.8, high Known exploited

SolarWinds Virtualization Manager Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

NVD (opens in a new tab) CVE.org (opens in a new tab) CISA KEV catalogue (opens in a new tab)
CVSS
7.8, high high CVSS v3.1
EPSS, next 30 days
4% higher than 89.5% of scored CVEs
Exploitation
Confirmed in the wild
Published
17 Jun 201610 years ago

Known exploited

CISA added this to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog on 3 Nov 2021. US federal agencies had to remediate by 3 May 2022, a deadline that has passed.

Required action. Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Description

SolarWinds Virtualization Manager 6.3.1 and earlier allow local users to gain privileges by leveraging a misconfiguration of sudo, as demonstrated by "sudo cat /etc/passwd."

Details

Vendor
SolarWinds
Product
Virtualization Manager
Weakness
CWE-264 (opens in a new tab)
Status
Analyzed
Updated
17 Jun 2026
Assigner
cve@mitre.org

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References 4

Exploit code 3

Other references 1

The kind is read from NVD's tags where present and from the shape of the URL otherwise, so treat it as a hint.

Other SolarWinds CVEs

Every SolarWinds CVE we hold

Same vendor in what we hold, not a known link between the flaws.

  • CVE-2026-28318 SolarWinds Serv-U Uncontrolled Resource Consumption Vulnerability KEV EPSS 2% 7.5, high
  • CVE-2025-40536 SolarWinds Web Help Desk Security Control Bypass Vulnerability KEV EPSS 74% 9.8, critical
  • CVE-2025-40551 SolarWinds Web Help Desk Deserialization of Untrusted Data Vulnerability KEV EPSS 84% 9.8, critical
  • CVE-2025-26399 SolarWinds Web Help Desk Deserialization of Untrusted Data Vulnerability KEV EPSS 90% 9.8, critical
  • CVE-2024-28987 SolarWinds Web Help Desk Hardcoded Credential Vulnerability KEV EPSS 93% 9.1, critical
  • CVE-2024-28986 SolarWinds Web Help Desk Deserialization of Untrusted Data Vulnerability KEV EPSS 85% 9.8, critical
  • CVE-2024-28995 SolarWinds Serv-U Path Traversal Vulnerability KEV EPSS 100% 7.5, high
  • CVE-2021-35247 SolarWinds Serv-U Improper Input Validation Vulnerability KEV EPSS 3% 5.3, medium

Beyond this page

Is CVE-2016-3643 in your network?

This page tells you how dangerous CVE-2016-3643 is out there. Whether it sits on one of your devices, only a scan of your own network can tell. That is what our systems do, every day, for the companies we protect.

CVE-2016-3643 is in the CISA catalogue of exploited vulnerabilities: attackers are already exploiting it.

  • EXYS7600 OCELOT

    Find it before attackers do

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  • EXYS7950 KONDRA

    Detect it if it's exploited

    Until the patch is applied, Kondra monitors your network, events and endpoints in real time. It keeps an inventory of the software installed on every endpoint, and its anomaly detection rules flag what an attacker does once inside.

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Check your exposure

Assembled from the NVD 2.0 API, the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog and FIRST EPSS. Scores are as of our last collection on 18 Oct 2026, not the live upstream state.