Cisco Secure Firewall - Citrix NetScaler Memory Overread Attempt


Description

This analytic detects exploitation activity of CVE-2025-5777 using Cisco Secure Firewall Intrusion Events. It leverages Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense IntrusionEvent logs to identify cases where Snort signature 65118 (Citrix NetScaler memory overread attempt) is triggered If confirmed malicious, this behavior is highly indicative of a potential exploitation of CVE-2025-5777.

Query · spl

`cisco_secure_firewall`
EventType=IntrusionEvent
signature_id = 65118
| fillnull
| stats min(_time) as firstTime
        max(_time) as lastTime
        values(signature_id) as signature_id
        values(signature) as signature
        values(class_desc) as class_desc
        values(MitreAttackGroups) as MitreAttackGroups
        values(InlineResult) as InlineResult
        values(InlineResultReason) as InlineResultReason
        values(src) as src
        values(dest_port) as dest_port
        values(rule) as rule
        values(transport) as transport
        values(app) as app
        by dest
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| `cisco_secure_firewall___citrix_netscaler_memory_overread_attempt_filter`

Implementation guide

This search requires Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Logs, which includes the FileEvent EventType. This search uses an input macro named cisco_secure_firewall. We strongly recommend that you specify your environment-specific configurations (index, source, sourcetype, etc.) for Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense logs. Replace the macro definition with configurations for your Splunk environment. The search also uses a post-filter macro designed to filter out known false positives. The logs are to be ingested using the Splunk Add-on for Cisco Security Cloud (https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/7404). The malware & file access policy must also enable logging.

Known false positives

  • Security testing or vulnerability scanners might trigger this. Investigate any potential matches to determine if they're legitimate.

Analyst notes

Known false positives: Security testing or vulnerability scanners might trigger this. Investigate any potential matches to determine if they're legitimate.

Raw source Cisco Secure Firewall - Citrix NetScaler Memory Overread Attempt · SPL
Esc
Published by splunk/security_content ↗, licensed under Apache 2.0 ↗. Reproduced here unmodified.
name: Cisco Secure Firewall - Citrix NetScaler Memory Overread Attempt
id: 93db24a0-fd21-45d7-9daf-84afd5a8cca2
version: 7
creation_date: '2025-07-17'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Michael Haag, Nasreddine Bencherchali, Splunk, Talos NTDR
status: production
type: TTP
description: |
    This analytic detects exploitation activity of CVE-2025-5777 using Cisco Secure Firewall Intrusion Events.
    It leverages Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense IntrusionEvent logs to identify cases where Snort signature 65118 (Citrix NetScaler memory overread attempt) is triggered
    If confirmed malicious, this behavior is highly indicative of a potential exploitation of CVE-2025-5777.
data_source:
    - Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Intrusion Event
search: |
    `cisco_secure_firewall`
    EventType=IntrusionEvent
    signature_id = 65118
    | fillnull
    | stats min(_time) as firstTime
            max(_time) as lastTime
            values(signature_id) as signature_id
            values(signature) as signature
            values(class_desc) as class_desc
            values(MitreAttackGroups) as MitreAttackGroups
            values(InlineResult) as InlineResult
            values(InlineResultReason) as InlineResultReason
            values(src) as src
            values(dest_port) as dest_port
            values(rule) as rule
            values(transport) as transport
            values(app) as app
            by dest
    | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
    | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
    | `cisco_secure_firewall___citrix_netscaler_memory_overread_attempt_filter`
how_to_implement: |
    This search requires Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Logs, which
    includes the FileEvent EventType. This search uses an input macro named `cisco_secure_firewall`.
    We strongly recommend that you specify your environment-specific configurations
    (index, source, sourcetype, etc.) for Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense logs. Replace the macro definition
    with configurations for your Splunk environment. The search also uses a post-filter
    macro designed to filter out known false positives.
    The logs are to be ingested using the Splunk Add-on for Cisco Security Cloud (https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/7404).
    The malware & file access policy must also enable logging.
known_false_positives: |
    Security testing or vulnerability scanners might trigger this. Investigate any potential
    matches to determine if they're legitimate.
references:
    - https://support.citrix.com/support-home/kbsearch/article?articleNumber=CTX693420
    - https://support.citrix.com/support-home/kbsearch/article?articleNumber=CTX693420
    - https://www.netscaler.com/blog/news/critical-security-updates-for-netscaler-netscaler-gateway-and-netscaler-console/
    - https://github.com/mingshenhk/CitrixBleed-2-CVE-2025-5777-PoC-
    - https://horizon3.ai/attack-research/attack-blogs/cve-2025-5777-citrixbleed-2-write-up-maybe/
    - https://labs.watchtowr.com/how-much-more-must-we-bleed-citrix-netscaler-memory-disclosure-citrixbleed-2-cve-2025-5777/
    - https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2025/CVE-2025-5777.yaml
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$src$" and "$dest$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search src="$src$" dest="$dest$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$src$" and "$dest$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$src$", "$dest$") | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
      earliest_offset: 7d
      latest_offset: "0"
finding:
    title: Potential exploitation of CVE-2025-5777 from $src$
    entity:
        field: dest
        type: system
        score: 50
threat_objects:
    - field: src
      type: system
analytic_story:
    - Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Analytics
    - Citrix NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway CVE-2025-5777
asset_type: Endpoint
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1203
    - T1059
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: network
security_domain: endpoint
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/cisco_secure_firewall_threat_defense/intrusion_event/intrusion_events.log
          source: not_applicable
          sourcetype: cisco:sfw:estreamer
      test_type: unit

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