CVE-2014-7140 in Netscaler
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in the management interface in Citrix NetScaler Application Delivery Controller (ADC) and NetScaler Gateway 10.x before 10.1-129.11 and 10.5 before 10.5-50.10 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/13/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-7140 represents a critical security flaw within the management interface of Citrix NetScaler Application Delivery Controller and NetScaler Gateway products. This vulnerability exists in versions 10.x before 10.1-129.11 and 10.5 before 10.5-50.10, indicating a widespread impact across multiple product lines and release versions. The unspecified nature of the vulnerability vectors suggests that attackers could exploit various attack surfaces within the management interface to achieve remote code execution, making the flaw particularly dangerous due to its broad attack surface and potential for exploitation.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability resides within the management interface components of the Citrix NetScaler products, which are designed to provide administrative control over network traffic management and gateway services. These interfaces typically handle configuration changes, monitoring capabilities, and administrative commands that are essential for maintaining the network infrastructure. The flaw allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code without requiring authentication or specific credentials, which fundamentally compromises the security model of these critical network appliances. This type of vulnerability would typically involve buffer overflows, input validation failures, or other injection flaws that could be leveraged through the management interface protocols.
The operational impact of CVE-2014-7140 is severe and multifaceted, as it provides attackers with complete control over affected NetScaler appliances. Once exploited, remote code execution would enable adversaries to install backdoors, modify network configurations, intercept traffic, or use the compromised appliances as launching points for further attacks within the network. The management interface being the attack vector means that organizations could lose complete visibility and control over their application delivery and gateway services, potentially leading to service disruption, data breaches, or complete network compromise. This vulnerability particularly affects enterprise environments where NetScaler appliances are deployed for critical infrastructure management, as it could allow attackers to bypass traditional network security controls.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigation strategies including applying the vendor-provided patches and updates to address the vulnerability in affected versions. Network segmentation and access control measures should be strengthened around management interfaces, including implementing network access control lists, firewall rules, and restricting management interface access to trusted networks only. Monitoring for suspicious activity on management interfaces and implementing intrusion detection systems can help identify exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-119 which deals with "Improper Access to Resources via Pool Allocation" and potentially CWE-77 and CWE-78 related to command injection, while also mapping to ATT&CK techniques such as T1059 for command and scripting interpreter and T1071 for application layer protocol usage. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify and remediate similar issues across the network infrastructure.