CVE-2026-16111 in DataPower Gateway
Summary
by MITRE • 10/08/2026
IBM DataPower Gateway 10.5.0.0 through 10.5.0.22, 10.6.1 through 10.6.6, 10.6.0.0 through 10.6.0.10, and 11.0.0.0 through 11.0.0.2 could allow an attacker to cause a denial of service due to a type confusion flaw.
If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/08/2026
The vulnerability identified in IBM DataPower Gateway versions ranging from 10.5.0.0 through 10.5.0.22, 10.6.1 through 10.6.6, 10.6.0.0 through 10.6.0.10, and 11.0.0.0 through 11.0.0.2 represents a critical integrity failure within the application logic of this enterprise-grade integration platform. DataPower Gateway serves as a central component in many organizational architectures, handling API management, web services security, message routing, and protocol transformation for high-volume transactional traffic. The specific flaw described is a type confusion error, which occurs when software incorrectly interprets or handles data types during execution. In the context of C++ based applications like DataPower, this typically involves improper casting between base classes and derived classes or misinterpretation of object memory layouts. When an attacker can trigger this condition by supplying specially crafted input that exploits the type mismatch, the application fails to validate the expected structure of the data against its actual runtime representation. This discrepancy leads to undefined behavior within the process memory space, often resulting in a crash or hang of the affected service component rather than allowing for arbitrary code execution due to the nature of the denial-of-service impact described.
From a technical perspective, type confusion vulnerabilities are particularly dangerous because they bypass standard boundary checks that might otherwise prevent buffer overflows or out-of-bounds reads. The flaw likely resides in how DataPower processes specific message formats or configuration parameters where object polymorphism is utilized. If an attacker can manipulate the input to force the application to treat a data structure as a different type than intended, it may lead to accessing invalid memory addresses or invoking methods on objects that do not support them. This results in immediate termination of the processing thread or the entire gateway instance. The operational impact is severe for organizations relying on DataPower for continuous availability. A successful exploitation leads directly to a denial of service, disrupting API endpoints and breaking integrations between backend systems and frontend clients. Since DataPower often sits at the perimeter of internal networks acting as an entry point for web services, this outage can cascade into broader infrastructure failures, affecting downstream databases, microservices, and external partners who depend on the availability of these APIs.
This vulnerability aligns with Common Weakness Enumeration identifier CWE-843, which defines access to incorrect type during interpretation or casting. It also maps to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1529, specifically under system shutdown/reboot if the crash leads to a complete node failure requiring restart, although primarily it falls under resource exhaustion via application instability. The lack of robust input validation regarding object types allows an unauthenticated attacker, potentially over the network, to trigger this condition without needing prior access credentials in many configurations where DataPower is exposed directly to internet-facing APIs. This highlights a significant risk for public-facing deployments that have not implemented sufficient upstream filtering or rate limiting mechanisms.
Mitigation strategies must focus on both immediate remediation and long-term architectural hardening. The primary defense is the application of vendor-supplied patches provided by IBM in their security advisories, which correct the type checking logic within the affected versions. Organizations should prioritize updating to a version outside the specified vulnerable range as soon as possible. In environments where patching cannot be immediately applied due to operational constraints, network-level controls such as Web Application Firewalls can be configured to detect and block anomalous request patterns that resemble exploitation attempts for memory corruption vulnerabilities. Additionally, implementing strict input validation at the API gateway level before it reaches the vulnerable component can help mitigate risk. Regular vulnerability scanning and penetration testing should include checks for type confusion flaws in custom integrations or extensions deployed on DataPower. Monitoring logs for unexpected service restarts or error spikes related to message processing is also critical for early detection of exploitation attempts. Maintaining an up-to-date inventory of all DataGateway instances ensures that no legacy versions remain exposed to potential attackers seeking to disrupt business continuity through denial-of-service attacks.