Description
In OTRS 6.0.x up to and including 6.0.1, OTRS 5.0.x up to and including 5.0.24, and OTRS 4.0.x up to and including 4.0.26, an attacker who is logged into OTRS as an agent can manipulate form parameters (related to PGP) and execute arbitrary shell commands with the permissions of the OTRS or web server user.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 11 | otrs2 | 6.0.2-1 | — |
| Debian 9 | otrs2 | 5.0.16-1+deb9u4 | DSA-4066-1 |
| Debian 8 | otrs2 | 3.3.18-1+deb8u3 | DSA-4066-1 |
| Debian 7 | otrs2 | 3.3.18-1~deb7u2 | DLA-1212-1 |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | otrs2 | No fix yet | — |
Public exploits
Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.
Exploit-DB 1
- OTRS 5.0.x/6.0.x - Remote Command Execution (1) EDB-43853 · webapps · Jan 21, 2018
GitHub 1 repository
-
Smarttfoxx/OTRS-4.0.1-6.0.1-Remote-Command-Execution ★ 0 · Aug 11, 2024
CVE-2017-16921: In OTRS 6.0.x up to and including 6.0.1, OTRS 5.0.x up to and including 5.0.24, and OTRS 4.0.x up to and including 4.0.26, an attacker who is logged into OTRS as an agent can manipula…
Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.
Advisories 2
- DSA-4066-1 otrs2 - security update Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
- DLA-1212-1 otrs2 - security update Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026