CVE-2017-6316

Citrix NetScaler SD-WAN devices through v9.1.2.26.561201 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary shell commands as root via a CGISESSID cookie. On CloudBridge (the former name of NetScaler SD-WAN) devices, the cookie name was CAKEPHP rather than CGISESSID.

CVSS: 9.8Criticalscored by CISA
Exploited in the wild: Yes, in CISA KEV since 25 Mar 2022CISA deadline for US federal agencies: 15 Apr 2022public exploit code
EPSS: 73.0%chance of exploitation in the next 30 daystop 0.6% of scored CVEsFIRST score of 11 Nov 2026
Fix: Not stated by the vendorno fixed release in the CVE record
Published: 20 Jul 2017analysed here 12 Nov 2026

Do first. Apply updates per vendor instructions. (CISA's required action for this KEV entry)

Summary

Triage

Exploitable: At runtime
Attack vector: network
Can a WAF block it?: Partly. See why

The summary, impact and action text on this page are written by our AI analysis pipeline, or taken from the NVD description when a CVE was imported from NVD. They are not the vendor's wording: check them against the sources. A longer AI executive summary and technical analysis are generated for signed-in accounts on the Max plan.

Affected products

Products named in our analysis

citrix:netscaler_sd-wan

Fix and mitigation

WAF and other mitigations

Can a WAF block it? Partly. The bug can be reached over the network, so generic WAF rules may stop some attacks. Its weakness type is unknown, so we cannot be more precise.

Also consider: patch

Based on the weakness type only; no CVE-specific evidence yet. We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.

Remediation steps (AI-written)

Step-by-step remediation is generated for accounts on the Max plan, for CVEs that match a technology in their stack. Add this technology to your stack to see the fix checklist.

Exploitation evidence

CISA KEV catalog: Listed since 25 Mar 2022.
CISA due date: 15 Apr 2022, the remediation deadline for US federal agencies
CISA required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Public exploit code: Yes: 2 on Exploit-DB
CISA SSVC: exploitation active, automatable yes, technical impact totalAssessed by CISA 4 Feb 2025 (SSVC 2.0.3). Exploitation is none, poc (public proof of concept) or active.

Exploit-DB

Citrix CloudBridge - 'CAKEPHP' Cookie Command Injectionwebapps, 19 Jul 2017
Netscaler SD-WAN 9.1.2.26.561201 - Command Injection (Metasploit)webapps, 19 Jul 2017

Listed so you can judge urgency, not as a recommendation to run anything. GitHub “proofs of concept” are unvetted: some are fake or carry malware. Exploit-DB marks the entries its staff verified.

Timeline

19 Jul 2017First public exploit or proof of concept
20 Jul 2017Published1 day later
25 Mar 2022Added to CISA KEV (exploited in the wild)1,709 days (about 5 years) later
15 Apr 2022CISA remediation due date (US federal agencies)21 days later
4 Feb 2025CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation active1,027 days (about 3 years) later
21 Oct 2025CVE record last updated259 days (about 9 months) later
12 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com387 days (about 1 year) later

CVSS vector

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

Metric	Value	What it means
Attack vector	NetworkReachable over the internet or any routable network.	Reachable over the internet or any routable network.
Attack complexity	LowRepeatable attack, no special conditions.	Repeatable attack, no special conditions.
Privileges required	NoneThe attacker needs no prior access.	The attacker needs no prior access.
User interaction	NoneNo victim action needed.	No victim action needed.
Scope	UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.	Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality	HighTotal data disclosure possible.	Total data disclosure possible.
Integrity	HighComplete modification possible.	Complete modification possible.
Availability	HighFull outage possible.	Full outage possible.

Common questions

Is CVE-2017-6316 being exploited?

Yes. CVE-2017-6316 appears in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed and reported. Treat it as active rather than theoretical, and patch it ahead of higher-scoring vulnerabilities that carry no exploitation evidence.

How severe is CVE-2017-6316?

CVE-2017-6316 is rated Critical with a CVSS score of 9.8. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.

Is there a patch for CVE-2017-6316?

Not known from our data. No patch reference has been recorded for CVE-2017-6316, which is not the same as no patch existing — a fix may have shipped without a tagged reference, or after this record was written. The vendor advisory is the only authority on whether a fix exists, and mitigations may be available regardless.

What does CVE-2017-6316 affect?

CVE-2017-6316 affects citrix:netscaler_sd-wan. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.

Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.

References

NVD CVE.org CVE Details Source

6 references in the CVE record, grouped by the tags the record gives them.

Exploits (2)

exploit-db.com /exploits/42345/
exploit-db.com /exploits/42346/

Where the data on this page comes from

CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
NVD: CVSS and CPE data
CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, due date
CISA Vulnrichment (ADP): SSVC decision points
FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile
Exploit-DB: published exploits

Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.

Similar CVEs

Get CVEs like this by email. Join the free digest: the CVEs we flag as major, all CVSS 8.0 or higher, in up to three emails a day (sent at 05:00, 11:00 and 15:00 UTC). Matching alerts to the products you run needs an account, and accounts are invite-only during the beta.