CVE-2026-16182 in DataPower Gateway
Summary
by MITRE • 10/08/2026
IBM DataPower Gateway 10.5.0.0 through 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 NULL pointer dereference in GraphQL variable processing.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/08/2026
The vulnerability identified affects IBM DataPower Gateway across multiple version ranges including 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. This security flaw is rooted in the handling of GraphQL variables within the gateway's processing engine. Specifically, a NULL pointer dereference occurs when the system attempts to process malformed or unexpected input during variable resolution. In software engineering, a NULL pointer dereference happens when an application tries to access memory through a pointer that has not been initialized or has been explicitly set to null. This is typically classified under CWE-476 and represents a critical failure in error handling and input validation logic within the GraphQL parser component of DataPower Gateway.
From a technical perspective, GraphQL allows clients to request specific data structures, often passing variables to customize queries. When these variables are processed, the underlying C or C++ code responsible for parsing must validate that all expected fields exist and contain valid references before proceeding with execution. In this instance, the validation logic fails to adequately check for null values in certain edge cases involving variable definitions. Consequently, when a specially crafted GraphQL request containing specific malformed variable structures is sent to the gateway, the application attempts to dereference a memory address that holds no value. This action triggers an immediate exception or crash within the service process handling the request.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is primarily focused on availability rather than confidentiality or integrity. Because the flaw results in a denial of service condition, successful exploitation leads to the termination of the affected DataPower Gateway instance or specific worker threads responsible for processing GraphQL traffic. This disruption prevents legitimate users from accessing backend services protected by the gateway. Attackers can exploit this weakness remotely without authentication if the GraphQL endpoint is exposed publicly, allowing them to degrade or completely halt network operations simply by sending a single crafted packet. The severity of the impact depends on whether high-availability configurations such as clustering are in place; however, even with redundancy, repeated exploitation could overwhelm failover mechanisms and cause broader service interruptions across the infrastructure.
This vulnerability aligns with MITRE ATT&CK technique T1499, Endpoint Denial of Service, specifically under subtechniques involving resource exhaustion or application crashes via malformed input. It also relates to CWE-20 Improper Input Validation as the root cause lies in insufficient sanitization and validation of incoming GraphQL variable payloads. To mitigate this risk, organizations running affected versions must apply the latest security patches provided by IBM immediately. Until patching is feasible, network-level controls such as Web Application Firewalls should be configured to inspect and block suspicious GraphQL traffic patterns that exhibit signs of malformed variable structures or unusual payload sizes. Additionally, disabling unnecessary GraphQL endpoints if they are not required for business operations can reduce the attack surface significantly. Regular monitoring of system logs for unexpected process restarts or error messages related to null pointer exceptions will aid in early detection of potential exploitation attempts.