CVE-2023-40044
High 8.8 Exploited in the wild (KEV) Used in ransomware campaigns
Confirmed active exploitation — CISA KEV catalog
- Name
- Progress WS_FTP Server Deserialization of Untrusted Data Vulnerability
- Added to catalog
- Remediation due date (US federal)
- Required action
- Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Description
In WS_FTP Server versions prior to 8.7.4 and 8.8.2, a pre-authenticated attacker could leverage a .NET deserialization vulnerability in the Ad Hoc Transfer module to execute remote commands on the underlying WS_FTP Server operating system.
Metrics
- CVSS 3.1
-
8.8 (HIGH)
Score source: NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - EPSS — exploit probability
- 90% (percentile: 100) as of 2 November 2026
- CWE
- CWE-502
Affected products
progress: ws ftp server
References
- https://community.progress.com/s/article/WS-FTP-Server-Critical-Vulnerability-S… Vendor Advisory
- https://community.progress.com/s/article/WS-FTP-Server-Critical-Vulnerability-S… Vendor Advisory
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174917/Progress-Software-WS_FTP-Unauthenti… ExploitThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- https://www.assetnote.io/resources/research/rce-in-progress-ws-ftp-ad-hoc-via-i… ExploitThird Party Advisory
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174917/Progress-Software-WS_FTP-Unauthenti… ExploitThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- https://www.assetnote.io/resources/research/rce-in-progress-ws-ftp-ad-hoc-via-i… ExploitThird Party Advisory
- https://attackerkb.com/topics/bn32f9sNax/cve-2023-40044 Third Party Advisory
- https://censys.com/cve-2023-40044/ Third Party Advisory
- https://www.progress.com/ws_ftp Product
- https://www.rapid7.com/blog/post/2023/09/29/etr-critical-vulnerabilities-in-ws_… Broken LinkThird Party Advisory