Citrix ADC, Gateway, and SD-WAN WAN-OP Local File Inclusion (LFI) and Information Disclosure Vulnerability (CVE-2020-8195)

1. Vulnerability Overview & Root Cause

This vulnerability (CVE-2020-8195) is an improper input validation (CWE-20) and path traversal (CWE-22) flaw located within the management interfaces of Citrix ADC, Citrix Gateway, and Citrix SD-WAN WAN-OP. The root cause lies in the application's failure to properly sanitize and validate user-supplied file path parameters before processing them in file system operations. This allows authenticated users with low privileges to bypass intended access controls and read arbitrary files on the local system.

2. Exploitation Mechanics & Attack Scenario

An attacker must first authenticate to the Citrix management portal or API using a low-privileged account. Once authenticated, the attacker crafts a malicious request targeting vulnerable endpoints, injecting path traversal sequences (such as '../../' or equivalent URL-encoded representations) into the input parameters. Because the input is processed without strict validation, the application resolves the path relative to the root directory, exposing sensitive configuration files, system credentials, or system logs to the attacker.

3. Infrastructure & Business Impact

As this vulnerability is listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, it represents a highly active threat vector. Although exploitation requires prior authentication, any compromised low-privileged account or insider threat can leverage this flaw to extract critical system configurations. The resulting information disclosure can be used to plan subsequent high-impact attacks, including privilege escalation and lateral movement within the enterprise network.