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CVE-2017-17562

8.1, high Known exploited

Embedthis GoAhead Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

NVD (opens in a new tab) CVE.org (opens in a new tab) CISA KEV catalogue (opens in a new tab)
CVSS
8.1, high high CVSS v3.1
EPSS, next 30 days
96% higher than 99.8% of scored CVEs
Exploitation
Confirmed in the wild
Published
12 Dec 20178 years ago

Known exploited

CISA added this to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog on 10 Dec 2021. US federal agencies had to remediate by 10 Jun 2022, a deadline that has passed.

Required action. Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Description

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.

Details

Vendor
Embedthis and 1 more
Product
Goahead
Weakness
n/a
Status
Analyzed
Updated
17 Jun 2026
Assigner
cve@mitre.org

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References 9

Exploit code 3

Patches and fixes 2

Advisories 3

Other references 1

The kind is read from NVD's tags where present and from the shape of the URL otherwise, so treat it as a hint.

Beyond this page

Is CVE-2017-17562 in your network?

This page tells you how dangerous CVE-2017-17562 is out there. Whether it sits on one of your devices, only a scan of your own network can tell. That is what our systems do, every day, for the companies we protect.

CVE-2017-17562 is in the CISA catalogue of exploited vulnerabilities: attackers are already exploiting it.

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  • EXYS7950 KONDRA

    Detect it if it's exploited

    Until the patch is applied, Kondra monitors your network, events and endpoints in real time. It keeps an inventory of the software installed on every endpoint, and its anomaly detection rules flag what an attacker does once inside.

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Check your exposure

Assembled from the NVD 2.0 API, the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog and FIRST EPSS. Scores are as of our last collection on 17 Oct 2026, not the live upstream state.