{"id":"CVE-2017-17562","published":"2017-12-12T19:29:00Z","modified":"2026-06-17T01:11:15Z","title":"Embedthis GoAhead Remote Code Execution Vulnerability","vendor":"Embedthis","product":"GoAhead","tier":"core","eol":null,"description":{"text":"Embedthis GoAhead before 3.6.5 allows remote code execution if CGI is enabled and a CGI program is dynamically linked. This is a result of initializing the environment of forked CGI scripts using untrusted HTTP request parameters in the cgiHandler function in cgi.c. When combined with the glibc dynamic linker, this behaviour can be abused for remote code execution using special parameter names such as LD_PRELOAD. An attacker can POST their shared object payload in the body of the request, and reference it using /proc/self/fd/0.","provenance":"source","from":"NVD"},"summary":{"text":"Embedthis GoAhead before 3.6.5 contains an improper input validation flaw in the cgiHandler function in cgi.c, where forked CGI scripts have their environment initialised from untrusted HTTP request parameters. An attacker with network access can exploit this without authentication or user interaction, provided CGI is enabled and a dynamically linked CGI program is present, by posting a shared object payload in the request body and using special parameter names such as LD_PRELOAD to achieve remote code execution through the glibc dynamic linker.","provenance":"ai","model":"claude-haiku-5-5","generatedAt":"2026-10-23T07:10:38Z"},"cvss":{"score":8.1,"severity":"HIGH","version":"3.1","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","provenance":"source","from":"NVD"},"epss":{"score":0.97127,"percentile":0.99893,"date":"2026-10-28","provenance":"source"},"kev":{"dateAdded":"2021-12-10","dueDate":"2022-06-10","ransomware":false,"requiredAction":"Apply updates per vendor instructions.","notes":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-17562","provenance":"source"},"vulncheckKev":{"dateAdded":"2020-12-14","exploitedFirstSeen":"2020-12-14","ransomware":false,"evidence":[{"url":"https://blogs.juniper.net/en-us/threat-research/everything-but-the-kitchen-sink-more-attacks-from-the-gitpaste-12-worm","date":"2020-12-14"},{"url":"https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/feeds/known_exploited_vulnerabilities.json","date":"2021-12-10"},{"url":"https://www.securin.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/2023-State-of-Cybersecurity-for-Medical-Devices-and-Healthcare-Systems.pdf","date":"2023-08-08"},{"url":"https://dashboard.shadowserver.org/statistics/honeypot/vulnerability/map/?day=2025-03-12&host_type=src&vulnerability=cve-2017-17562","date":"2025-03-12"},{"url":"https://www.security.com/threat-intelligence/china-apt-us-policy","date":"2025-11-06"},{"url":"https://www.joesecurity.org/blog/6764463444623599134","date":"2026-08-25"}],"evidenceTotal":6,"provenance":"source"},"exploited":true,"otx":{"pulseCount":50,"pulses":[{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 29, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6ae20c1db17e7057ae7d9ad1","created":"2026-10-28"},{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 28, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6ae0ba7e0e2a97ff7b218819","created":"2026-10-27"},{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 27, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6adf68b85c3e852f3c111d18","created":"2026-10-26"},{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 24, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6adb740e397c3ad4799aa4cd","created":"2026-10-23"},{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 23, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6ada236fcfba2dfa730ea482","created":"2026-10-22"},{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 22, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6ad8d33a077cbb5cab524d80","created":"2026-10-21"},{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 21, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6ad78130c4d1ac2be83a8b6d","created":"2026-10-20"},{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 20, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6ad62f63c24a405a3423cc13","created":"2026-10-19"},{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 19, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6ad4dda174e5797d0bd238b7","created":"2026-10-18"},{"name":"Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 18, 2026","url":"https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/6ad38c22e1848f8189d1c121","created":"2026-10-17"}],"provenance":"machine"},"cwes":[{"id":"CWE-20","name":"Improper Input Validation"}],"references":[{"url":"http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuapr2018-3678067.html","tags":["Patch","Third Party Advisory"]},{"url":"http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1040702","tags":["Broken Link","Third Party Advisory","VDB Entry"]},{"url":"https://github.com/elttam/advisories/tree/master/CVE-2017-17562","tags":["Broken Link","Third Party Advisory"]},{"url":"https://github.com/embedthis/goahead/commit/6f786c123196eb622625a920d54048629a7caa74","tags":["Broken Link","Patch","Third Party Advisory"]},{"url":"https://github.com/embedthis/goahead/issues/249","tags":["Broken Link","Issue Tracking","Third Party Advisory"]},{"url":"https://www.elttam.com.au/blog/goahead/","tags":["Broken Link","Exploit","Patch","Third Party Advisory"]},{"url":"https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/43360/","tags":["Exploit","Third Party Advisory","VDB Entry"]},{"url":"https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/43877/","tags":["Exploit","Third Party Advisory","VDB Entry"]},{"url":"http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuapr2018-3678067.html","tags":["Patch","Third Party Advisory"]},{"url":"http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1040702","tags":["Broken Link","Third Party Advisory","VDB Entry"]},{"url":"https://github.com/elttam/advisories/tree/master/CVE-2017-17562","tags":["Broken Link","Third Party Advisory"]},{"url":"https://github.com/embedthis/goahead/commit/6f786c123196eb622625a920d54048629a7caa74","tags":["Broken Link","Patch","Third Party Advisory"]},{"url":"https://github.com/embedthis/goahead/issues/249","tags":["Broken Link","Issue Tracking","Third Party Advisory"]},{"url":"https://www.elttam.com.au/blog/goahead/","tags":["Broken Link","Exploit","Patch","Third Party Advisory"]},{"url":"https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/43360/","tags":["Exploit","Third Party Advisory","VDB Entry"]},{"url":"https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/43877/","tags":["Exploit","Third Party Advisory","VDB Entry"]},{"url":"https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2017-17562","tags":["US Government Resource"]}],"techniques":[{"id":"T1190","name":"Exploit Public-Facing Application","tactics":["initial-access"],"provenance":"ai","basis":"ai-mapping","bases":["ai-mapping"],"basisDetail":"claude-haiku-5-5: remote HTTP request exploits public-facing web server","mappingType":"exploitation_technique","evidence":[{"from":"description","quote":"allows remote code execution if CGI is enabled","start":31,"end":77}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","confidence":"medium","confidenceNote":"AI-mapped from the description (quote-validated, not expert-reviewed)"},{"id":"T1059","name":"Command and Scripting Interpreter","tactics":["execution"],"provenance":"ai","basis":"ai-mapping","bases":["ai-mapping"],"basisDetail":"claude-haiku-5-5: payload execution yields code execution in forked CGI","mappingType":"primary_impact","evidence":[{"from":"description","quote":"can POST their shared object payload in the body of the request","start":429,"end":492}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","confidence":"medium","confidenceNote":"AI-mapped from the description (quote-validated, not expert-reviewed)"}],"reports":[],"affected":[],"advisories":[],"euvd":{"id":"EUVD-2017-8720","url":"https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/EUVD-2017-8720","exploited":true,"exploitedSince":"2021-12-10","provenance":"source"},"exploits":[{"id":43360,"url":"https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/43360","title":"GoAhead Web Server 2.5 < 3.6.5 - HTTPd 'LD_PRELOAD' Remote Code Execution","type":"remote","platform":"linux","date":"2017-12-18","verified":true,"provenance":"source"},{"id":43877,"url":"https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/43877","title":"GoAhead Web Server 2.5 < 3.6.5 - HTTPd 'LD_PRELOAD' Arbitrary Module Load (Metasploit)","type":"remote","platform":"multiple","date":"2018-01-24","verified":true,"provenance":"source"}],"exploitSources":{"exploitdb":{"count":2,"earliest":"2017-12-18"},"pocGithub":{"count":4,"skipped":1,"earliest":"2017-12-27","earliestUrl":"https://github.com/1337g/CVE-2017-17562","repos":[{"name":"ivanitlearning/CVE-2017-17562","url":"https://github.com/ivanitlearning/CVE-2017-17562","stars":10,"created":"2019-10-16"},{"name":"nu11pointer/goahead-rce-exploit","url":"https://github.com/nu11pointer/goahead-rce-exploit","stars":8,"created":"2021-11-14"},{"name":"1337g/CVE-2017-17562","url":"https://github.com/1337g/CVE-2017-17562","stars":1,"created":"2017-12-27"},{"name":"joaomagfreitas/bash-CVE-2017-17562","url":"https://github.com/joaomagfreitas/bash-CVE-2017-17562","stars":1,"created":"2021-11-17"}]},"metasploit":[{"name":"GoAhead Web Server LD_PRELOAD Arbitrary Module Load","module":"exploit/linux/http/goahead_ldpreload","type":"exploit","disclosureDate":"2017-12-18","url":"https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/linux/http/goahead_ldpreload.rb"}],"nuclei":[{"id":"CVE-2017-17562","name":"Embedthis GoAhead <3.6.5 - Remote Code Execution","severity":"high","path":"http/cves/2017/CVE-2017-17562.yaml","url":"https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2017/CVE-2017-17562.yaml"}],"first":{"date":"2017-12-18","source":"Exploit-DB","url":"https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/43360"},"provenance":"source"},"exploitRefs":["https://www.elttam.com.au/blog/goahead/","https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/43360/","https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/43877/"],"flow":[{"stage":"exploitation","techniques":["T1190"],"provenance":"ai"},{"stage":"primary","techniques":["T1059"],"provenance":"ai"}],"timeline":[{"date":"2017-12-12","kind":"published","label":"Published (NVD)","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-17562","provenance":"source"},{"date":"2017-12-18","kind":"exploit-public","label":"First public exploit: Exploit-DB (EDB-43360); later: Metasploit 2017-12-18, PoC-in-GitHub 2017-12-27","url":"https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/43360","provenance":"source"},{"date":"2020-12-14","kind":"exploited-reported","label":"Exploitation first reported (VulnCheck KEV evidence)","url":"https://blogs.juniper.net/en-us/threat-research/everything-but-the-kitchen-sink-more-attacks-from-the-gitpaste-12-worm","provenance":"source"},{"date":"2021-12-10","kind":"kev","label":"Added to CISA KEV","url":"https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","provenance":"source"},{"date":"2021-12-10","kind":"euvd-exploited","label":"ENISA EUVD: exploited","url":"https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/EUVD-2017-8720","provenance":"source"}],"speed":{"daysToPublicExploit":6,"firstExploitFrom":"Exploit-DB","daysToKev":1459},"priority":{"score":68.6,"factors":[{"name":"In a KEV catalog","points":35.0,"detail":"listed in CISA KEV and VulnCheck KEV"},{"name":"Recent KEV listing","points":0.0,"detail":"added 2145 days ago"},{"name":"Known ransomware use","points":0.0,"detail":"not known"},{"name":"EPSS percentile","points":19.98,"detail":"percentile 0.9989"},{"name":"Named in threat reports","points":0.0,"detail":"0 reports"},{"name":"Public exploit code","points":5.0,"detail":"3 NVD references tagged Exploit; 2 Exploit-DB entries; 4 PoC-in-GitHub repos; 1 Metasploit module; 1 nuclei template"},{"name":"Mentioned in OTX pulses","points":3.0,"detail":"50 pulses"},{"name":"CVSS severity","points":5.67,"detail":"base score 8.1"},{"name":"End-of-life product","points":0.0,"detail":"supported or unknown"}]}}