Cyber Resilience

CVE-2019-19781

Path Traversal in Citrix Application Delivery Controller Firmware 10.5 … 13.0

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedPublic PoCRansomware-linkedPath Traversal
Published
27 December 2019
Modified
12 August 2026
KEV Added
03 November 2021
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.99 100.0th percentile
Risk Priority 97 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2019-19781 is a critical-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Citrix Application Delivery Controller Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 0.0% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2019-19781 is a directory traversal vulnerability, tracked under CWE-22, that affects Citrix Application Delivery Controller (ADC) and Gateway versions 10.5, 11.1, 12.0, 12.1, and 13.0. It received a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, reflecting network-accessible attack vectors with no required authentication or user interaction and full impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

The flaw can be exploited remotely by unauthenticated attackers to traverse directories on affected appliances. Public exploit code demonstrates that successful traversal can be chained to achieve remote code execution on the target system.

The listed references consist of multiple Packet Storm entries that publish proof-of-concept code for directory traversal and remote code execution against the vulnerable Citrix products; no official mitigation guidance or patch details appear in the supplied references.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A01:2025 Broken Access Control

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An issue was discovered in Citrix Application Delivery Controller (ADC) and Gateway 10.5, 11.1, 12.0, 12.1, and 13.0. They allow Directory Traversal.

CWE(s)
CWE-22
KEV Date Added
03 November 2021

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2020-8195Same product: Citrix Application Delivery Controller Firmwareboth on KEV
CVE-2019-11510Same product class: VPN / SSL gatewayboth on KEV
CVE-2022-41328Same product class: VPN / SSL gatewayboth on KEV
CVE-2018-13379Same product class: VPN / SSL gatewayboth on KEV
CVE-2024-21753Same product class: VPN / SSL gateway
CVE-2024-2552Same product class: VPN / SSL gateway
CVE-2023-34298Same product class: VPN / SSL gateway
CVE-2023-39339Same product class: VPN / SSL gateway
CVE-2018-14007Same vendor: Citrix
CVE-2024-48884Same product class: VPN / SSL gateway

Affected Assets

citrix
application delivery controller firmware
10.5, 11.1, 12.0, 12.1, 13.0
citrix
netscaler gateway firmware
10.5, 11.1, 12.0, 12.1
citrix
gateway firmware
13.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.3.2

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

SI-10 Information Input Validation
addresses: CWE-22

Validates pathnames and filenames to prevent traversal outside intended directories.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.

PR.AA-05 none match
prevents

PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.

A.8.3 Information access restriction partial match
mitigates

Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.

References