KEV Intelligence

Vulnerability report

Active exploitation observed Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2017-9805

Apache Struts Deserialization

Apache Software Foundation / Apache Struts · Apache Struts before 2.3.34 and 2.5.x before 2.5.13

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Severity
CVSS 8.1 · High
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Observed in sensors
EPSS
99.4%
First observed
03 Jul 2026
Last observed
12 Aug 2026

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2017-9805 is an unauthenticated vulnerability affecting Apache Software Foundation Apache Struts. The REST Plugin in Apache Struts 2.1.1 through 2.3.x before 2.3.34 and 2.5.x before 2.5.13 uses an XStreamHandler...

Is it exploited?

Yes. KEV Intelligence sensors observed exploitation attempts with confirmed confidence.

Who is affected?

Apache Software Foundation / Apache Struts apache struts before 2.3.34 and 2.5.x before 2.5.13.

What should we do?

Patch immediately, validate internet-facing exposure, and monitor for matching requests.

Overview

Apache Struts Deserialization

The REST Plugin in Apache Struts 2.1.1 through 2.3.x before 2.3.34 and 2.5.x before 2.5.13 uses an XStreamHandler with an instance of XStream for deserialization without any type filtering, which can lead to Remote Code Execution when deserializing XML payloads.

Vendor Product Affected Status
Apache Software Foundation Apache Struts Apache Struts before 2.3.34 and 2.5.x before 2.5.13 Affected
View vendor advisory (opens in new tab)
Published
15 Sep 2017
Exploitation Reported
03 Nov 2021
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None

Tags

cisa nuclei_scanner metasploit apache

CVE References

Exploitation evidence

Why KEV Intelligence marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

CISA

Recorded 03 Nov 2021

Independent exploitation attestation added to the KEV Intelligence record.

Active exploitation observed

KEV Intelligence sensor

First observed 03 Jul 2026

First-party sensor telemetry confirms matching exploitation attempts.

Proof of concept available

GitHub

Recorded 09 Sep 2017

Public scanner or PoC coverage increases practical exploitability.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the KEV Intelligence Pro API.

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Source Added
CISA First 2021-11-03 00:00 UTC
The Shadowserver 2026-05-31 00:00 UTC
KEV Intelligence 2026-07-30 14:03 UTC

Operational indicators for this CVE are listed under Detection.

Sensor telemetry

First-party evidence of exploitation activity

Aggregate observations show the scale, recency, and distribution of activity without overstating sparse data.

8

Attempts observed

4

Unique attacker IPs

3

Attacker countries

GB · JP · US

4

Sensors observed

Exploitation attempts over the last 49 days

Daily events observed by KEV Intelligence sensors

Updated 19 Aug 2026

0
14
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
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0
0
2 Jul 12 Jul 22 Jul 1 Aug 19 Aug

First observed 03 Jul 2026 · Last observed 12 Aug 2026

Pro adds sensor region and window summaries. Enterprise adds raw IPs, paths, User-Agents, and payloads.

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Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
2
User-Agents
8

Raw values available in Pro and Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

No KEV Intelligence virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

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Attacker IP Indicators

Attacker IP indicators observed · available in Pro and Enterprise.

Sensor-derived attacker IP indicators are available to Pro and Enterprise accounts under Detection and through the Pro API.

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Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Scanner Reference Detected
Metasploit https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/multi/http/struts2_rest_xstream.rb 28 Apr 2025
Nuclei https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2017/CVE-2017-9805.yaml 25 Apr 2025

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

8.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS

99.4%

Weaknesses

Deserialization of Untrusted Data CWE-502

All CVSS Scores

CVSS v3.1 8.1 High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v2.0 6.8 Medium

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Potential Proof of Concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

Apache Struts2 S2-052 - Remote Code Execution

nuclei · Created Unknown

struts2_rest_xstream

metasploit · Created Unknown

Metasploit module for CVE-2017-9805

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. Observed by KEV Intelligence sensors

    Evidence-backed exploitation signal

  2. Indicators of compromise added (10)

    Indicators of compromise recorded

  3. KEV confirmed by The Shadowserver

    Exploitation attested by an external source

  4. Metasploit module available

    Exploit module available

  5. Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  6. Nuclei template available

    Scanner coverage available

  7. Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  8. CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  9. CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

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  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2017-9805

Free JSON includes basic KEV fields 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2017-9805",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 8.1,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.99396,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": true
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 8, "sensors": 4 }
}

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