CVE-2023-6548
Citrix Netscaler Application Delivery Controller 12.1 – 12.1-55.302
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:LSummary
CVE-2023-6548 is a medium-severity Code Injection (CWE-94) vulnerability in Citrix Netscaler Application Delivery Controller. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked in the top 13% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
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-2023-6548 is a code injection vulnerability (CWE-94) affecting NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway. It stems from improper control of code generation and permits an authenticated low-privileged attacker who already has network access to the NSIP, CLIP, or SNIP management interface to execute arbitrary code on that interface. The flaw carries a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.5 with an adjacent-network attack vector and low attack complexity.
An attacker positioned on the management network and possessing valid low-privileged credentials can leverage the injection flaw to run commands on the management plane, achieving limited confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts without user interaction.
Citrix security bulletin CTX584986 addresses both CVE-2023-6548 and the related CVE-2023-6549, providing remediation guidance and updated builds for affected NetScaler ADC and Gateway versions. The vulnerability is also listed in CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
EPSS for the CVE reached a recorded peak of 0.1039 before receding to the current value of 0.0649, indicating a modest post-disclosure increase in observed exploitation interest.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-58778
Vulnerability Data
Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection') in NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway allows an attacker with access to NSIP, CLIP or SNIP with management interface to perform Authenticated (low privileged) remote code execution on Management Interface.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 17 January 2024
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V1.3.1
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation finds code paths that accept and execute externally influenced strings.
Input validation directly stops untrusted data from being used to construct executable code without neutralization.
Least privilege limits the damage an injected code fragment can perform once executed.
Requiring documented secure development standards and tools enforces use of safe code-generation APIs and escaping.
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-06's SDLC practices directly target injection flaws via secure coding and testing (mostly), yet as a single broad outcome it leaves many code-generation specifics unaddressed (partial).
PR.DS-10 protects runtime data confidentiality/integrity but has no bearing on neutralizing externally influenced input during code generation, so neither direction shows any preventive effect.
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.
Banning unapproved code samples and unauthenticated web services, combined with secure-coding standards and SAST, prevents the dynamic generation or inclusion of attacker-supplied code.
Controls that restrict unauthorized or malicious code from being introduced via external networks or removable media limit opportunities for an attacker to inject and execute arbitrary code.