Security Resilience

CVE-2020-8195

Path Traversal in Citrix Application Delivery Controller Firmware 10.5 – 10.5-70.18

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedPublic PoCPath Traversal
Published
10 July 2020
Modified
30 October 2025
KEV Added
03 November 2021
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.33 98th percentile
Risk Priority 76 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2020-8195 is a medium-severity Improper Input Validation (CWE-20) vulnerability in Citrix Application Delivery Controller Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked in the top 2% 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-2020-8195 is an improper input validation vulnerability, also referenced under CWE-20 and CWE-22, that affects Citrix ADC and Citrix Gateway versions prior to 13.0-58.30, 12.1-57.18, 12.0-63.21, 11.1-64.14, and 10.5-70.18, as well as Citrix SD-WAN WAN-OP versions prior to 11.1.1a, 11.0.3d, and 10.2.7. The flaw permits limited information disclosure and has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.5 reflecting network attack vector, low attack complexity, and low privileges required.

Low-privileged authenticated users can exploit the issue over the network to read arbitrary files on affected appliances, consistent with local file inclusion behavior reported in public exploit archives. This results in high confidentiality impact without requiring user interaction or affecting integrity or availability.

Citrix advisory CTX276688 addresses the vulnerability and provides updated software builds that resolve the input validation weakness. The flaw is also listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, confirming observed in-the-wild exploitation activity against the affected Citrix products.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A01:2025 Broken Access ControlA05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Improper input validation in Citrix ADC and Citrix Gateway versions before 13.0-58.30, 12.1-57.18, 12.0-63.21, 11.1-64.14 and 10.5-70.18 and Citrix SDWAN WAN-OP versions before 11.1.1a, 11.0.3d and 10.2.7 resulting in limited information disclosure to low privileged users.

CWE(s)
CWE-20CWE-22
KEV Date Added
03 November 2021

Related Threats

Threat-Actor AttributionAI

Microsoft Corp. (Salesforce / Slack engineer recruitment claims)
Potential for China Cyber Response to Heightened U.S.–China Tensions | CISA
APT1 (G0006)
Potential for China Cyber Response to Heightened U.S.–China Tensions | CISA
Deep Panda (G0009)
Potential for China Cyber Response to Heightened U.S.–China Tensions | CISA
APT3 (G0022)
Potential for China Cyber Response to Heightened U.S.–China Tensions | CISA
Winnti Group (G0044)
Potential for China Cyber Response to Heightened U.S.–China Tensions | CISA
menuPass (G0045)
Potential for China Cyber Response to Heightened U.S.–China Tensions | CISA
Leviathan (G0065)
Potential for China Cyber Response to Heightened U.S.–China Tensions | CISA
APT19 (G0073)
Potential for China Cyber Response to Heightened U.S.–China Tensions | CISA
APT41 (G0096)
Potential for China Cyber Response to Heightened U.S.–China Tensions | CISA
AnonOps
Potential for China Cyber Response to Heightened U.S.–China Tensions | CISA

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001 Data Obfuscation Command And Control
Adversaries may obfuscate command and control traffic to make it more difficult to detect.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access
Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.006 DCSync Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credentials and other sensitive information by abusing a Windows Domain Controller's application programming interface (API)(Citation: Microsoft DRSR Dec 2017) (Citation: Microsoft GetNCCChanges) (Citati…
attack.mitre.org →
T1016.001 Internet Connection Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may check for Internet connectivity on compromised systems.
attack.mitre.org →
T1018 Remote System Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of other systems by IP address, hostname, or other logical identifier on a network that may be used for Lateral Movement from the current system.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2019-19781Same product: Citrix Application Delivery Controller Firmwareboth on KEV
CVE-2022-41328Same product class: VPN / SSL gatewayboth on KEV
CVE-2018-13379Same product class: VPN / SSL gatewayboth on KEV
CVE-2019-11510Same product class: VPN / SSL gatewayboth on KEV
CVE-2024-2552Same product class: VPN / SSL gateway
CVE-2020-3452Shared CWE-20, CWE-22both on KEV
CVE-2024-48884Same product class: VPN / SSL gateway
CVE-2023-34298Same product class: VPN / SSL gateway
CVE-2018-14007Same vendor: Citrix
CVE-2024-21753Same product class: VPN / SSL gateway

Affected Assets

citrix
application delivery controller firmware
10.5 — 10.5-70.18 · 11.1 — 11.1-64.14 · 12.0 — 12.0-63.21
citrix
netscaler gateway firmware
10.5 — 10.5-70.18 · 11.1 — 11.1-64.14 · 12.0 — 12.0-63.21
citrix
gateway firmware
13.0 — 13.0-58.30
citrix
sd-wan wanop
10.2 — 10.2.7 · 11.0 — 11.0.3d · 11.1 — 11.1.1a
citrix
gateway plug-in for linux
≤ 1.0.0.137

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-20 CWE-22

Directly implements checks on information inputs to reject invalid data before processing.

PM-14 Testing, Training, and Monitoring
addresses: CWE-20

Security testing and developer training directly verify and enforce proper input validation, reducing exploitability of injection and malformed-data weaknesses.

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation
addresses: CWE-20

Security testing and evaluation at multiple SDLC stages directly detects missing or flawed input validation, with the required remediation process ensuring fixes are applied.

SI-8 Spam Protection
addresses: CWE-20

Spam protection mechanisms perform filtering and detection on inbound/outbound messages, directly compensating for missing or weak input validation of unsolicited content.

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
blocks

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
blocks

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.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.8.10 Information deletion partial match
removes

Hardening callouts derived

DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.

  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-20, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.

References