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.
CVE-2023-40044
Score elevated to 10.0 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2023-10-05), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. NVD baseline CVSS 10.0 retained for reference. Confidence: HIGH.
- Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV)
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v3
- 10.0
- EG Score
- 10.0(high)
- EG Risk
- 100(Act)EG Risk 100/100SSVC: Act
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computedSeverity100% × 45%Exploitation100% × 40%Automatability100% × 15%Action: Fix now — active exploitation, automatable, high impact. - EPSS PROB
- 90%
- EPSS %ILE
- 100%
- KEV
- ⚠ Exploited
Published
September 27, 2023
Last Modified
October 31, 2025
Advisory Details (6)
Auto-updated Sep 19, 2026CVE-2023-40044: Deserialization of Untrusted Data | Rapid7 Vulnerability Database
https://attackerkb.com/topics/bn32f9sNax/cve-2023-40044Packet Storm Security
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174917/Progress-Software-WS_FTP-Unauthenticated-Remote-Code-Execution.htmlMass exploitation attempts against WS_FTP have begun
https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/02/ws_ftp_update/RCE in Progress WS_FTP Ad Hoc via IIS HTTP Modules (CVE-2023-40044)
https://www.assetnote.io/resources/research/rce-in-progress-ws-ftp-ad-hoc-via-iis-http-modules-cve-2023-40044Progress Customer Community
https://community.progress.com/s/article/WS-FTP-Server-Critical-Vulnerability-September-2023Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 52× in last 7d / 222× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 799 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-09-20 18:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
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- 2026-09-20 10:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
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- 2026-09-18 20:03 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-18 20:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-18 19:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-18 19:20 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-09-18 16:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-18 14:15 UTCCISA KEV update
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- 2026-09-17 09:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
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- 2026-09-16 17:45 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-16 14:10 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-09-16 13:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-16 10:00 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-16 06:09 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-16 06:09 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-16 05:11 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-16 02:18 UTCGHSA enrichment
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- 2026-09-14 23:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-14 19:24 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-09-14 19:22 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-14 15:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
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- 2026-09-12 05:37 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-12 01:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-11 21:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-11 18:49 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-09-11 18:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-11 14:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-11 10:19 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-11 10:19 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-11 09:34 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-11 06:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-11 02:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-10 22:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-10 19:28 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-09-10 18:48 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-10 14:57 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-10 11:06 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-10 11:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-10 07:13 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-10 03:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-09 23:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-09 19:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-09 19:08 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-09-09 15:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-09 11:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-09 08:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-09 04:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-09 00:20 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-08 20:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-08 18:54 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-09-08 16:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-08 12:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
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- 2026-09-07 09:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-07 05:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
Publicly available exploits
(2 references)Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Metasploit module). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.
- Metasploitexploit/windows/http/ws_ftp_rce_cve_2023_40044✓ verifiedFirst seen Sep 27, 2023
Progress Software WS_FTP Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution
Open source ↗ - Nucleihttp/cves/2023/CVE-2023-40044.yamlFirst seen Jan 1, 2023
WS_FTP Server - Insecure Deserialization
Open source ↗
Related CVEs(same CWE)
Same CWE
10 shownCWE-502
Frequently asked(6)
What is CVE-2023-40044?
When was CVE-2023-40044 disclosed?
Is CVE-2023-40044 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-40044?
Which products are affected by CVE-2023-40044?
How do I remediate CVE-2023-40044?
Dependency Blast Radius
Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2023-40044
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