CVE-2017-9231 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2017-9231
Vulnerability Scoring

7.5
/10
Very High Risk

Highly exploitable, CVE-2017-9231 poses a critical security risk that could lead to severe breaches.

Attack Complexity Details

  • Attack Complexity: Low
    Exploits can be performed without significant complexity or special conditions.
  • Attack Vector: Network
    Vulnerability is exploitable over a network without physical access.
  • Privileges Required: None
    No privileges are required for exploitation.
  • Scope: Unchanged
    Exploit remains within the originally vulnerable component.
  • User Interaction: None
    No user interaction is necessary for exploitation.

CVE-2017-9231 Details

Status: Modified

Last updated: 🕞 21 Nov 2024, 03:35 UTC
Originally published on: 🕙 16 Jun 2017, 22:29 UTC

Time between publication and last update: 2714 days

CVSS Release: version 3

CVSS3 Source

nvd@nist.gov

CVSS3 Type

Primary

CVSS3 Vector

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

CVE-2017-9231 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2017-9231: XML external entity (XXE) vulnerability in Citrix XenMobile Server 9.x and 10.x before 10.5 RP3 allows attackers to obtain sensitive information via unspecified vectors.

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2017-9231

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2017-9231 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2017-9231

With low attack complexity and no required privileges, CVE-2017-9231 is an easy target for cybercriminals. Organizations should prioritize immediate mitigation measures to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.

Understanding AC and PR

A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.

Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.

Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2017-9231, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2017-9231, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

  • Confidentiality: High
    Exploiting CVE-2017-9231 can result in unauthorized access to sensitive data, severely compromising data privacy.
  • Integrity: None
    CVE-2017-9231 poses no threat to data integrity.
  • Availability: None
    CVE-2017-9231 does not impact system availability.

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

The EPSS score estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the near future.

EPSS Score: 0.09% (probability of exploit)

EPSS Percentile: 40.81% (lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 59.19% of others.

CVE-2017-9231 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-611

CAPEC Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification

  • Data Serialization External Entities Blowup CAPEC-221 This attack takes advantage of the entity replacement property of certain data serialization languages (e.g., XML, YAML, etc.) where the value of the replacement is a URI. A well-crafted file could have the entity refer to a URI that consumes a large amount of resources to create a denial of service condition. This can cause the system to either freeze, crash, or execute arbitrary code depending on the URI.

Vulnerable Configurations

  • cpe:2.3:o:citrix:xenmobile_server:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:citrix:xenmobile_server:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:citrix:xenmobile_server:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:citrix:xenmobile_server:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:citrix:xenmobile_server:10.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:citrix:xenmobile_server:10.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:citrix:xenmobile_server:10.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:citrix:xenmobile_server:10.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:citrix:xenmobile_server:10.3.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:citrix:xenmobile_server:10.3.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:citrix:xenmobile_server:10.3.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:citrix:xenmobile_server:10.3.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:citrix:xenmobile_server:10.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:citrix:xenmobile_server:10.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:citrix:xenmobile_server:10.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:citrix:xenmobile_server:10.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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