Two newly disclosed critical vulnerabilities—CVE-2025-5349 and CVE-2025-5777—have put Citrix NetScaler ADC and Gateway deployments at serious risk, exposing enterprise environments to potential data breaches and service disruptions. These flaws underscore the persistent challenges facing infrastructure teams, especially when balancing security patching with service availability.
We dive deep into:
🔍 The technical mechanisms behind the NetScaler vulnerabilities and why they’re considered high risk
⚙️ The real-world difficulties of patching Citrix environments, including long installation times, session disruption concerns, and HA strategy failures
🛠️ Staged patching techniques, including gold image refresh for MCS, traffic redirection using VIP isolation, and Citrix’s official upgrade flow
🔒 A breakdown of the AAA (Authentication, Authorization, Accounting) model and its relevance for secure VPN access
🧠 Broader lessons from CWE-125 (Out-of-Bounds Read) and how SAST, SCA, and code reviews help developers catch software vulnerabilities before they reach production
This episode ties together software security principles with enterprise infrastructure reality, highlighting how missteps in either domain can leave organizations exposed. Whether you’re managing Citrix infrastructure or building secure software, this conversation bridges the gap between theory and practice.
