Critical Citrix ADC and Gateway Remote Authentication Bypass Vulnerabilities

January 9, 2023

There are several critical vulnerabilities in the Citrix ADC and Gateway remote authentication bypass which could allow an attacker to steal information from your computer. This article explores these vulnerabilities, and explains how you can prevent them.

Workspace ONE Assist

Citrix ADC and Gateway products are use to provide secure access to applications and data across cloud environments. They work together to deliver a complete solution for network security. There are several vulnerabilities in these products that can exploited by malicious actors to gain access to the targeted organization or perform a remote desktop takeover. These vulnerabilities allow unauthenticated remote attackers to bypass authentication controls.

Citrix has released security updates to address three vulnerabilities. One of these is a critical authentication bypass flaw. The other two are critical remote code execution vulnerabilities. The company is urging customers to upgrade to the latest versions and install updated versions of their appliances.

The authentication bypass vulnerability in the Citrix ADC, which also called the NetScaler ADC, allows a remote, unauthenticated attacker to steal credentials. This can then result in system corruption and reset of the administrator password at the next device reboot.

The CISA issued a warning to customers about this vulnerability on Wednesday. While the NSA has published a technical document that details how to detect malicious activity in potentially affected environments, the bulletin does not specify the specific exploit code.

Citrix ADC

Citrix recently released security updates to address three critical vulnerabilities. These include an authentication bypass flaw, a remote code execution vulnerability, and a protection mechanism failure flaw. The vulnerabilities could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to gain control of an affected device.

The company issued the bulletin on November 8th, describing the vulnerabilities and urging users to apply the patches. The vulnerabilities affect versions of both the Application Delivery Controller (ADC) and Gateway products. These products are use for application delivery and automation across cloud environments.

The Citrix ADC and Gateway products work together to provide secure, reliable access to applications. They increase performance and offer scalability, as well as advanced network security features. They also reduce complexity.

Attackers regularly target citrix ADC and Gateway products. Depending on the type of attack, they could be vulnerable to remote code execution, an authentication bypass, or a protection mechanism failure. The APT5 threat group, which linked to China, has exploited these vulnerabilities to breach organizations.

Critical Citrix ADC and Gateway

Citrix released a security bulletin on November 8 to address three vulnerabilities. The security update is design to protect against a critical authentication bypass flaw, a protection mechanism failure vulnerability, and an insufficient verification of data authenticity vulnerability.

The authentication bypass flaw affects both the Citrix Application Delivery Controller (ADC) and Gateway. It is possible for attackers to exploit this vulnerability to circumvent login brute force defenses and perform a remote desktop takeover. The vulnerability is also capable of allowing unauthenticated remote attackers to bypass authentication controls.

The vulnerability is also potentially vulnerable to a remote code execution attack. In addition, the vulnerability could use to escalate privileges, or to perform a phishing attack. The threat of remote code execution is particularly significant, as it could allow an attacker to gain control of an organization’s network infrastructure.

The Citrix Gateway is an SSL VPN service, and is use to provide secure, remote access to internal applications. The service does not store sensitive information through cache headers, but does not serve dynamic content.

VMware

Citrix released a security bulletin on November 8th, reporting 3 critical vulnerabilities. They are CVE-2022-27510, CVE-2022-27516, and CVE-2019-19781. It revealed that Citrix ADC and Gateway products have vulnerabilities that have leveraged by threat actors. These attacks allow attackers to bypass authentication and allow them to gain access to targeted organizations.

In October, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a warning about a Citrix bug that exploited by state-sponsored actors connected to China. These flaws could lead to code execution and command injection. The NSA has issued a set of recommendations for detecting and remediating these potential threats.

The vulnerability is a failure in the protection mechanism of Citrix Gateway, which allows unauthenticated remote attackers to gain unauthorized access. To fix the issue, Citrix recommends that users upgrade to the latest version. It also urges customers to change the default internal user account password to a new one.

Another vulnerability is Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, which may allow a user to escalate privileges. An attacker could also use this to take over a remote desktop session.

Ammar Fakhruddin

ABOUT AUTHOR

Ammar brings in 18 years of experience in strategic solutions and product development in Public Sector, Oil & Gas and Healthcare organizations. He loves solving complex real world business and data problems by bringing in leading-edge solutions that are cost effective, improve customer and employee experience. At Propelex he focuses on helping businesses achieve digital excellence using Smart Data & Cybersecurity solutions.


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