CISA Adds Two Critical Citrix NetScaler Flaws to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog
The CISA has added two critical vulnerabilities in Citrix NetScaler products to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog after reports of active exploitation on a global scale. The agency set a deadline of September 30 for U.S. federal agencies to apply the necessary fixes.
The two vulnerabilities are CVE-2026-88771 and CVE-2026-88772, both rated 9.5 on the CVSS scale. Citrix released the corrected versions on September 27, coinciding with the CISA inclusion.
CVE-2026-88771 results from inadequate input validation and permits execution of arbitrary commands without authentication. It impacts all default installations of NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway.
CVE-2026-88772 originates from a flaw in memory buffer boundary controls, enabling remote code execution or denial of service. Exploitation requires DTLS, which is enabled by default on VPN virtual servers.
Vulnerable versions are 14.1-73.32, 13.1-63.21 and earlier. Patches are available starting from 14.1-73.37 and 13.1-64.23, with equivalent numbers for FIPS variants.
The exploitation was identified by watchTowr on September 26, and Citrix confirmed the following day that attacks against unmitigated installations had already been observed. No workaround has been provided, and the guidance is to update to the fixed releases.
Applying the patch does not indicate whether a device has already been compromised. Organizations should preserve evidence, isolate the appliance, revoke credentials, investigate connected systems, rebuild with the latest firmware, and rotate passwords and encryption keys.
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