CriticalCVE-2017-18362

    Kaseya VSA SQL Injection Vulnerability (CVE-2017-18362)

    Published In CISA KEV since Sources: CVE.org

    What is affected, what to do

    ConnectWise ManagedITSync integration through 2017 for Kaseya VSA is vulnerable to unauthenticated remote commands that allow full direct access to the Kaseya VSA database. In February 2019, attackers have actively exploited this in the wild to download and execute ransomware payloads on all endpoints managed by the VSA server.

    The vulnerability is being actively exploited; treat it as a priority. CISA lists it as used in ransomware campaigns. The available sources name no fixed version. Check the vendor guidance in the references below. Immediate actions, mitigation and detection rules are in the runbook below.

    Affected
    • Kaseya Virtual System/Server Administrator (VSA) lte *..2017

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    9.8

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: NVD, CVSS v3

    9.8

    CVSS v3

    Severity Critical on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: CVE.org

    86.8 %

    EPSS score

    High — model estimates ≥ 50% chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 99.75

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    Critical
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    253.60 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    actively exploited
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    9.8 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    9.8
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

    Read in glossary
    86.8 %
    High — model estimates ≥ 50% chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

    Read in glossary
    99.75
    Critical — this CVE ranks in the top fifth of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 80%).
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    Actively exploited
    Published
    In CISA KEV since

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary

    Response and mitigation

    Why act now?

    Prioritisation rationale

    This flaw is network-reachable without authentication and gives direct read/write access to the VSA database, which effectively hands the attacker control of every managed endpoint. CISA explicitly flags it for known ransomware use, and its exploitation likelihood sits among the very highest of all CVEs. Typical victims are MSPs and internal IT teams running on-premises VSA, where a single compromise can encrypt every customer or site at once — a classic supply-chain blast radius. If the integration is installed and the web UI is reachable, treat this as an emergency change at top priority. If the integration was never deployed, a documented non-exposure check is enough. Where an MSP manages your estate, demand that evidence from them as part of NIS2 supply-chain security.

    1. Runbook step 1

      Immediate response (0-24 h)

      • Check exposure: On every on-premises Kaseya VSA server, search the web root for ManagedIT.asmx (e.g. dir /s ManagedIT.asmx under the Kaseya install directory). If the file is present, the server is open to unauthenticated SQL access.
      • Remove or update the ConnectWise ManagedITSync integration: A patch is available from the vendor. Look up the fixed version in the ConnectWise/Kaseya advisory. If the integration isn't business-critical, uninstall the plugin entirely and delete ManagedIT.asmx from the IIS directory.
      • Block access now if patching must wait: Deny the ManagedIT.asmx path via IIS Request Filtering ("Deny URL Sequence") or at the reverse proxy/WAF. Restrict the VSA web UI (TCP 443/80) to VPN or an IP allowlist.
      • Start a compromise assessment: Query the VSA database (ksubscribers) for newly created or modified agent procedures, scheduled scripts and new admin accounts. Preserve evidence before cleaning up.
      • Rotate credentials: Reset all VSA admin passwords, SQL service accounts and any credentials stored in VSA (domain admin, local admins on managed endpoints). Treat them as burned if database access was possible.
      • If compromise is suspected: Temporarily cut agent check-in (default TCP 5721) to the affected VSA server to halt mass payload distribution across managed endpoints. Trigger incident response and keep the NIS2 early-warning deadline (24 h) in mind.

    2. Runbook step 2

      Mitigation layers

      • Network segmentation: Move the VSA server into a dedicated management zone. Allow inbound 5721/TCP only from agent networks and 443/TCP only from admin jump hosts. Don't expose the web UI directly to the internet.
      • WAF/IPS: Add a rule that blocks and alerts on any request to */ManagedIT.asmx*. Layer a generic SQLi signature on SOAP bodies on top (patterns such as ;EXEC, xp_cmdshell, INSERT INTO, UPDATE ... SET inside XML elements). Suricata example: alert http any any -> $VSA_SERVERS any (msg:"CVE-2017-18362 ManagedIT.asmx access"; http.uri; content:"ManagedIT.asmx"; nocase; sid:...;).
      • Database hardening: Reduce the web application's SQL login to least privilege and disable xp_cmdshell. Enable SQL Server Audit for DML on the procedure and script tables in ksubscribers.
      • Endpoint hardening: Use EDR policy or ASR rules to stop the Kaseya agent (AgentMon.exe) from launching unsigned binaries out of temp directories. Allowlist the scripts that VSA legitimately pushes.
      • IAM/least privilege: Don't store domain admin credentials in VSA. Use scoped service accounts instead, and enforce MFA on all VSA admin logins.
      • Backup resilience: Verify you have offline or immutable backups of managed systems. Backup consoles must not be reachable or manageable through VSA.

    3. Runbook step 3

      Detection rules

      • IIS access logs: Treat any request to ManagedIT.asmx as suspicious, especially POST requests from external IPs. SPL: index=iis cs_uri_stem="*ManagedIT.asmx*" | stats count by c_ip, cs_method, sc_status.
      • EDR process ancestry: Look for AgentMon.exe spawning cmd.exe or powershell.exe, which then downloads files (bitsadmin, certutil -urlcache, Invoke-WebRequest) or runs unknown EXEs from %TEMP% or C:\kworking\. The same pattern across many hosts at once indicates mass deployment. KQL: DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ "AgentMon.exe" and FileName in~ ("cmd.exe","powershell.exe") | summarize dcount(DeviceName) by ProcessCommandLine, bin(Timestamp,15m).
      • Sysmon EID 1/11 and Windows EID 4688: Watch for ransom-note creation, mass file renames, and vssadmin delete shadows or wbadmin delete catalog with Kaseya agent ancestry.
      • SQL Server Audit: Flag new or modified agent procedures or scheduled scripts outside change windows. Flag the web application login issuing unusual statements, such as INSERT/UPDATE on procedure tables or xp_cmdshell.
      • Network telemetry (Zeek/Suricata): Look for internet-sourced HTTP sessions to the VSA web port with SOAP content (text/xml, SOAPAction header), followed by endpoints downloading from previously unseen domains.

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    Actively exploited: treat the vulnerability as a priority in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2. If it is exploited in your environment, check the reporting obligation under Art. 23 (early warning within 24 hours).
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    Since 11.09.2026, manufacturers of affected products with digital elements must report actively exploited vulnerabilities under Art. 14 CRA, with an early warning within 24 hours via ENISA's single reporting platform.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    ConnectWise ManagedITSync integration through 2017 for Kaseya VSA is vulnerable to unauthenticated remote commands that allow full direct access to the Kaseya VSA database. In February 2019, attackers have actively exploited this in the wild to download and execute ransomware payloads on all endpoints managed by the VSA server. If the ManagedIT.asmx page is available via the Kaseya VSA web interface, anyone with access to the page is able to run arbitrary SQL queries, both read and write, without authentication.

    Source: CISA KEV Catalog, cvelistv5, NVD (NIST)

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    connectwisemanageditsync
    • ≤ 2017
    • —

    Vendors and products

    Public exploit references

    Publicly reported proof-of-concepts, exploit modules and detection templates for this vulnerability. NEOSEC links to the original sources only and does not provide any exploit code.

    Public exploit references
    CISA KEV CatalogCISA Known Exploited Vulnerability (opens in a new tab)cisa.govactively exploited

    References & sources

    Embed badge

    Show the severity and KEV status of this vulnerability on your site – with a link back here. The image is updated hourly.

    Badge preview for CVE-2017-18362
    <a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2017-18362"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2017-18362.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2017-18362 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>