CriticalCVE-2024-4885

    WhatsUp Gold GetFileWithoutZip Directory Traversal Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (CVE-2024-4885)

    Published In CISA KEV since Sources: SingCERT, pwn.watch, CVE.org

    What is affected, what to do

    In WhatsUp Gold versions released before 2023.1.3, an unauthenticated Remote Code Execution vulnerability in Progress WhatsUpGold.  The WhatsUp.ExportUtilities.Export.GetFileWithoutZip allows execution of commands with iisapppool\nmconsole privileges.

    The vulnerability is being actively exploited; treat it as a priority. Update Progress Software WhatsUp Gold to version 2023.1.3. Immediate actions, mitigation and detection rules are in the runbook below.

    Affected
    • Progress Software WhatsUp Gold lt 2023.1.0..2023.1.3
    Fixed in
    • Progress Software WhatsUp Gold 2023.1.3

    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: SingCERT, pwn.watch, CVE.org

    99.29 %

    EPSS score

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

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 99.94

    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
    234.44 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 exploitedSource: VulnCheck KEV (opens in a new tab), CSA/SingCERT How we classify
    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“.

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    99.29 %
    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
    99.94
    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
    CISA assessment (SSVC)
    Exploitation: active · automatable · Technical impact: total
    Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 3 March 2025
    CWE

    CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect.

    Read in glossary
    CWE-22

    Response and mitigation

    Why act now?

    Prioritisation rationale

    This CVE is on KEV because it is unauthenticated, network-reachable, and yields direct code execution under a privileged IIS AppPool identity — exploitation likelihood ranks among the highest in the KEV catalogue and public PoCs exist. In NIS2 and KRITIS environments WhatsUp Gold typically holds a broad credential vault and wide network visibility, which makes a successful compromise a force multiplier for lateral movement rather than a contained host incident. Priority: internet-exposed instances are P1 with mitigation measured in hours; internally reachable instances remain P1 within 72 hours because any workstation in a monitored segment is a sufficient launch point. CISA has not flagged known ransomware use, but the impact profile — RCE on monitoring infrastructure — is squarely in the target set of ransomware operators and access brokers.

    1. Runbook step 1

      Immediate response (0-24 h)

      • Patch WhatsUp Gold to 2023.1.3 or later (Progress advisory for CVE-2024-4885). Treat anything below 2023.1.3 as trivially exploitable.
      • Pull the WhatsUp Gold web console off the internet immediately — default ports 9643/TCP and 9644/TCP (HTTPS), plus 80/443 if remapped. Enforce via perimeter firewall or reverse-proxy ACL until the patch is verified.
      • Run process and filesystem triage on the WhatsUp Gold host under the iisapppool\nmconsole identity: unusual child processes of w3wp.exe, new files under C:\Program Files (x86)\Ipswitch\WhatsUp\HTML\NmConsole\ and TEMP paths.
      • Treat the iisapppool\nmconsole service account and every credential stored inside WhatsUp Gold (SNMP, SSH, WMI, AD discovery accounts) as compromised and rotate them — RCE on the host means the credential vault is in attacker reach.
      • Open an incident ticket scoped as "monitoring platform compromise". WhatsUp Gold holds broad visibility into and partial write access across the monitored estate and is a prime lateral-movement pivot.

    2. Runbook step 2

      Mitigation layers

      • Network segmentation: place the WhatsUp Gold server in a dedicated management VLAN, inbound only from named admin jump hosts (RDP/HTTPS), outbound tightly restricted — no direct internet egress, no SMB to file servers outside the monitoring zone.
      • WAF or reverse proxy in front of NmConsole: block requests containing ../, ..%2f, ..%5c, URL-encoded null bytes, or paths referencing GetFileWithoutZip. Suricata shape: alert http any any -> $WUG_HOST any (msg:"CVE-2024-4885 WhatsUp Gold path traversal"; http.uri; content:"GetFileWithoutZip"; nocase; sid:X;).
      • IIS hardening: enable Request Filtering with allowDoubleEscaping=false, maintain a fileExtensions deny list, tighten NTFS ACLs for the nmconsole AppPool identity, remove write permissions outside strictly required working directories.
      • EDR policy on the WhatsUp host: block or at minimum alert on child processes of w3wp.exe (notably cmd.exe, powershell.exe, rundll32.exe, certutil.exe, bitsadmin.exe).
      • Credential hygiene: move WhatsUp Gold discovery credentials to dedicated low-privilege service accounts (never domain admins), enforce MFA on administrative WhatsUp logins, shorten session timeouts.
      • Snapshot the WhatsUp database before patching for later forensics. Where compromise indicators exist, prefer an integrity-checked rebuild over an in-place patch.

    3. Runbook step 3

      Detection rules

      • IIS access logs (%SystemDrive%\inetpub\logs\LogFiles\) for URI patterns matching GetFileWithoutZip, ..%2f, ..%5c, %00. KQL sketch: W3CIISLog | where csUriStem has "GetFileWithoutZip" or csUriQuery has_any ("..%2f","..%5c","%2e%2e").
      • Sysmon EID 1 (process create) where ParentImage ends in w3wp.exe and User = iisapppool\nmconsole, Image in (cmd.exe, powershell.exe, cscript.exe, wscript.exe, certutil.exe, curl.exe, bitsadmin.exe) — high-confidence alert.
      • Sysmon EID 11/15 (FileCreate / FileCreateStreamHash) in WhatsUp Gold web paths outside deployment windows: new .aspx, .ashx, or .config files indicate webshell deployment.
      • Windows Security EID 4688 / 4624 (logon types 3 or 10) for the nmconsole account from unusual source IPs. Zeek http.log with 200 responses on paths containing GetFileWithoutZip.
      • Network telemetry: egress from the WhatsUp host to non-allowlisted IPs/domains — Tor exits, pastebin clones, cloud storage. By design WhatsUp Gold speaks only to monitored assets, not to the internet.

    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

    In WhatsUp Gold versions released before 2023.1.3, an unauthenticated Remote Code Execution vulnerability in Progress WhatsUpGold.  The WhatsUp.ExportUtilities.Export.GetFileWithoutZip allows execution of commands with iisapppool\nmconsole privileges.

    Source: CSA/SingCERT, pwn.watch, NVD (NIST), cvelistv5, CISA KEV Catalog, CVE.org (MITRE)

    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
    Progress Software CorporationWhatsUp Gold
    • 2023.1.0 – < 2023.1.3
    • 2023.1.3
    progresswhatsup_gold
    • < 23.1.3
    • 23.1.3

    Vendors and products

    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

      Base

      The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-22

    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
    CSA/SingCERTActive Exploitation of Critical Progress WhatsUp Gold Vulnerability (opens in a new tab)CSA/SingCERTactively exploited

    References & sources

    • progress.comnetwork-monitoringProduct, Product
    • community.progress.comProgress advisory: Progress WhatsUp GoldVendor advisory, Vendor advisory, pwn-watch
    • cisa.govknown-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2024-4885government-resource, US government resource
    • pwn.watchpwn.watch: Progress WhatsUp Gold: WhatsUp Gold Path Traversal Vulnerabilitypwn-watch
    • NVD (NIST)NVD: CVE-2024-4885pwn-watch
    • cisa.govCISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalogpwn-watch
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