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XenserverApplication · Citrix

CVE-2016-5302

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-06-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 7.0 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Citrix XenServer 7.0 before Hotfix XS70E003, when a deployment has been upgraded from an earlier release, might allow remote attackers on the management network to "compromise" a host by leveraging credentials for an Active Directory account.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

Citrix XenServer 7.0 contains a vulnerability in upgraded deployments where Active Directory credentials are improperly retained or handled after the upgrade process. Remote attackers on the management network can exploit these AD credential handling flaws to compromise the XenServer host.

MitigationApply Hotfix XS70E003 to XenServer 7.0 installations that were upgraded from earlier releases. Alternatively, perform a fresh installation rather than an upgrade to avoid inheriting the vulnerable credential configuration.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
XenserverApplication
Affected:<= 7.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify XenServer version
    Run 'xe host-list' or check /etc/centos-release to confirm the installed XenServer version is 7.0 or below
    Affected if Version is 7.0 or lower (e.g., 6.5, 6.2, etc.)
  2. Determine if installation was an upgrade
    Review the XenServer installation history: check /var/log/installer.log or the output of 'xe host-software-version' for evidence of upgrade versus fresh installation. Also check if previous patch levels from older versions are present in 'xe patch-list'.
    Affected if The system was upgraded from an earlier XenServer version (e.g., 6.5 or older) rather than being a fresh 7.0 installation
  3. Verify Active Directory integration is configured
    Run 'xe domain-list' or check AD-related configuration files in /etc/sssd/ and /opt/xensource/libexec/ss- from the host. Use 'net ads info' if kerberos tools are installed to confirm AD domain membership.
    Affected if The XenServer host is joined to an Active Directory domain or has AD authentication configured
  4. Check management network accessibility
    Review network configuration: run 'xe network-list' and inspect the management interface via 'xe host-management-reconfigure' or check /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ for the management network interface. Confirm whether the management network is exposed to untrusted segments.
    Affected if The management interface is accessible from network segments accessible to remote attackers (not isolated)

A user is affected if their XenServer 7.0 (or lower) was upgraded from an earlier version, has Active Directory integration configured, and the management network is accessible to potential remote attackers.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 7.0
Interim mitigation

Apply Hotfix XS70E003 to XenServer 7.0 installations that were upgraded from earlier releases. Alternatively, perform a fresh installation rather than an upgrade to avoid inheriting the vulnerable credential configuration.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence
  1. Identify the current XenServer version using `xe host-list` or the XenCenter console
  2. Verify the deployment was upgraded from an earlier release (this vulnerability specifically affects upgraded deployments)
  3. Download Hotfix XS70E003 from the Citrix support portal (support.citrix.com)
  4. Apply the hotfix according to Citrix's standard hotfix installation procedure, typically using `xe patch-upload` and `xe patch-apply` commands
  5. Restart affected hosts as recommended by the hotfix documentation
  6. Verify the hotfix has been applied successfully
Caveat Review hotfix release notes for any specific requirements or potential impacts before applying

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Xenserver Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,120
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,992.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-5302 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data