NessusApplication · Tenable

CVE-2017-11506

HIGH · 7.4 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-08-09
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
83/100
Remediation priority · High
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
When linking a Nessus scanner or agent to Tenable.io or other manager, Nessus 6.x before 6.11 does not verify the manager's TLS certificate when making the initial outgoing connection. This could allow man-in-the-middle attacks.

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 · high confidence

Nessus scanner and agent versions 6.x before 6.11 fail to validate the TLS certificate of Tenable.io or other manager during the initial outgoing connection setup, enabling man-in-the-middle attackers to intercept or impersonate the manager.

MitigationUpgrade Nessus to version 6.11 or later which implements proper TLS certificate verification. Ensure managers use valid, trusted TLS certificates.

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
NessusApplication
Affected:= 6.0.0= 6.0.1= 6.0.2= 6.1.0= 6.1.1= 6.1.2= 6.2.0= 6.2.1= 6.3.0= 6.3.1= 6.3.2= 6.3.3

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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

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

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. Determine installed Nessus version
    Check the running Nessus version through the web interface (Help > About) or by running 'nessusd -v' or checking the installed package
    Affected if The version matches any of the following: 6.0.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.2, 6.1.0, 6.1.1, 6.1.2, 6.2.0, 6.2.1, 6.3.0, 6.3.1, 6.3.2, or 6.3.3
  2. Confirm manager connectivity is configured
    Inspect the Nessus configuration for connections to Tenable.io or other managers. Check if a manager host is defined in the Nessus settings
    Affected if Nessus is configured to connect to Tenable.io or any external manager for synchronization or reporting
  3. Verify TLS certificate validation is absent
    Review the connection settings or logs related to manager communication. Look for configuration that controls SSL/TLS certificate verification during initial manager handshake
    Affected if Certificate validation is disabled or not enforced for outbound manager connections

You are affected if your installed Nessus version is 6.0.0 through 6.3.3 AND the scanner is configured to connect to Tenable.io or another manager without proper TLS certificate validation.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade Nessus to version 6.11 or later which implements proper TLS certificate verification. Ensure managers use valid, trusted TLS certificates.

Fix this in Nessus Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-11506 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

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-2017-11506 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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