# CVE-2019-12990: SD-WAN - Path Traversal

> Live exploitation tracking for CVE-2019-12990 by the CrowdSec Live Exploit Tracker, built from real-world attack data crowdsourced from CrowdSec's global network.

Page: https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2019-12990

## Key facts

- **Exploitation phase:** Limited Exploitation. The vulnerability is known but shows very limited attacker interest or exploitation activity.
- **CVSS score:** 9.8
- **Public exploit available:** Yes
- **Affected products:** Citrix SD-WAN
- **Weaknesses:** CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal'))
- **Tags:** firewall

## Description

Citrix SD-WAN 10.2.x before 10.2.3 and NetScaler SD-WAN 10.0.x before 10.0.8 allow Directory Traversal.

## CrowdSec analysis

[CVE-2019-12990](https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/CVE-2019-12990) is a critical directory traversal vulnerability in Citrix SD-WAN and NetScaler SD-WAN versions prior to 10.2.3 and 10.0.8, respectively. This flaw allows remote, unauthenticated attackers to access arbitrary files on the system, potentially leading to the exposure of sensitive information or further compromise of the affected device.

CrowdSec has been tracking this vulnerability and its exploits since 8th of April 2026.

CrowdSec has not observed any significant exploitation activity targeting CVE-2019-12990 across its network. As a result, no community-driven trend analysis is available for this vulnerability at this time.

Attackers exploit the `/Collector/appliancesettings/applianceSettingsFileTransfer` endpoint by supplying crafted values to the `filename` parameter, enabling local file inclusion and potentially remote code execution on Citrix SD-WAN Center appliances. Subsequent requests to `/talari/app/files/` are used to access or execute the uploaded files.

## Timeline

- 2019-07-16: CVE Published. CVE-2019-12990 is published to NVD.
- 2026-04-08: Rule Released. CrowdSec releases a rule to detect CVE-2019-12990 exploitation attempts against the CrowdSec Network.

## References

- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/109133
- https://support.citrix.com/search?searchQuery=%2A&lang=en&sort=relevance&prod=&pver=&ct=Security+Bulletin
- https://www.tenable.com/security/research/tra-2019-31
- https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2019/CVE-2019-12990.yaml

## Live exploitation data

The [Live Exploit Tracker page](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2019-12990) follows observed exploitation activity for CVE-2019-12990. [Request an API key](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/request-api-key) for full access to its exploitation timeline, attacking IP addresses and blocklists.