# CVE-2017-11506: Security feature bypass in Nessus

> Nessus fails to verify TLS certificates during initial manager linking, allowing man-in-the-middle attacks to intercept or manipulate traffic.

- **Severity:** High 7.4 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 9 Aug 2017
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-rgmc-q3r4-jxvv

## What is CVE-2017-11506?

CVE-2017-11506 is a high-severity vulnerability in Tenable Nessus, published on 9 Aug 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

When linking a Nessus scanner or agent to Tenable.io or other manager, Nessus 6.x before 6.11 does not verify the manager's TLS certificate when making the initial outgoing connection. This could allow man-in-the-middle attacks.

Weakness: CWE-295 (Improper Certificate Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-11506?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Tenable Nessus.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-11506?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-11506 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2017-11506 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-11506 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Tenable Nessus

- [CVE-2022-4313](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-4313/): Command injection in Tenable.io, Tenable.sc and Nessus (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-0524](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0524/): Privilege escalation in Tenable.io, Tenable.sc, Nessus (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-0101](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0101/): Privilege escalation in Nessus (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2022-32973](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-32973/): Privilege escalation in Nessus (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2025-36630](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-36630/): Local Privilege Escalation (high 8.4)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-11506 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-11506 is a high-severity vulnerability in Tenable Nessus, published on 9 Aug 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-11506 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Tenable Nessus. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-11506/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-11506/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-11506
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-11506
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-11506

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-11506/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.