CVE-2017-6972

CRITICAL

AlienVault USM/OSSIM <5.3.7 & NfSen <1.3.8 - Privilege Escalation

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 1 public exploit for CVE-2017-6972. PoCs published by Paul Taylor.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This exploit leverages a command injection vulnerability in the 'customfmt' parameter of NfSen/AlienVault, allowing remote authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary commands as root. The PoC demonstrates a reverse shell payload using netcat.

Description

AlienVault USM and OSSIM before 5.3.7 and NfSen before 1.3.8 have an error in privilege dropping and unnecessarily execute the NfSen Perl code as root, aka AlienVault ID ENG-104945, a different vulnerability than CVE-2017-6970 and CVE-2017-6971.

Exploits (1)

exploitdb WORKING POC VERIFIED
by Paul Taylor · textwebappslinux
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/42314

This exploit leverages a command injection vulnerability in the 'customfmt' parameter of NfSen/AlienVault, allowing remote authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary commands as root. The PoC demonstrates a reverse shell payload using netcat.

Classification
Working Poc 100%
Attack Type
Rce
Complexity
Trivial
Reliability
Reliable
Target: NfSen 1.3.6p1, 1.3.7, 1.3.7-1~bpo80+1_all; AlienVault USM/OSSIM < 4.3.1
Auth required
Prerequisites: Authenticated access to the NfSen/AlienVault web interface · Netcat installed on the target for the reverse shell payload
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →

References (4)

Core 4
Core References
Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry vdb-entry x_refsource_bid
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/97016
Exploit, Third Party Advisory exploit x_refsource_exploit-db
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/42314/
Vendor Advisory x_refsource_confirm
https://www.alienvault.com/forums/discussion/8698

Scores

CVSS v3 9.8
EPSS 0.1460
EPSS Percentile 96.2%
Attack Vector NETWORK
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Details

CWE
CWE-273
Status published
Products (3)
alienvault/ossim < 5.3.6
alienvault/unified_security_management < 5.3.6
nfsen/nfsen < 1.3.7
Published Mar 22, 2017
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026