# CVE-2017-14616: Denial of service in n/a

> An attacker can crash the wgagent via malformed XML-RPC requests, causing denial of service for UI management on WatchGuard Fireware devices.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 20 Sep 2017
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-2qcw-856x-wxvp

## What is CVE-2017-14616?

CVE-2017-14616 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Watchguard Fireware, published on 20 Sep 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An FBX-5312 issue was discovered in WatchGuard Fireware before 12.0. If a login attempt is made in the XML-RPC interface with an XML message containing an empty member element, the wgagent crashes, logging out any user with a session opened in the UI. By continuously executing the failed login attempts, UI management of the device becomes impossible.

Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-14616?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Watchguard Fireware.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-14616?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-14616 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2017-14616 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-14616 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Watchguard Fireware

- [CVE-2022-26318](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-26318/): WatchGuard Firebox and XTM Appliances Arbitrary Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-14733](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-14733/): WatchGuard Firebox Out of Bounds Write (critical 9.3, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-9242](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-9242/): WatchGuard Firebox Out-of-Bounds Write (critical 9.3, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-23176](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-23176/): WatchGuard Firebox and XTM Privilege Escalation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-31789](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-31789/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-14616 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-14616 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Watchguard Fireware, published on 20 Sep 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-2017-14616 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Watchguard Fireware. 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-2017-14616/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-14616/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-14616
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-14616
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-14616

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-14616/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.