# CVE-2016-9196: Privilege escalation in Cisco Aironet 1800, 2800, and 3800 Series Access Point Platforms

> An authenticated local attacker with root password can gain unrestricted root access to the underlying Linux OS on Cisco Aironet Access Points.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.7 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 7 Apr 2017
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-gmvv-w68x-p3qm

## What is CVE-2016-9196?

CVE-2016-9196 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Aironet 1800, 2800, and 3800 Series Access Point Platforms, published on 7 Apr 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in login authentication management in Cisco Aironet 1800, 2800, and 3800 Series Access Point platforms could allow an authenticated, local attacker to gain unrestricted root access to the underlying Linux operating system. The root Linux shell is provided for advanced troubleshooting and should not be available to individual users, even those with root privileges. The attacker must have the root password to exploit this vulnerability. More Information: CSCvb13893. Known Affected Releases: 8.2(121.0) 8.3(102.0). Known Fixed Releases: 8.4(1.53) 8.4(1.52) 8.3(111.0) 8.3(104.23) 8.2(130.0) 8.2(124.1).

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-9196?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Aironet Access Point.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-9196?

No fix has been published for CVE-2016-9196 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2016-9196 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-9196 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-9196 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-9196 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Aironet 1800, 2800, and 3800 Series Access Point Platforms, published on 7 Apr 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-9196 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Aironet 1800, 2800, and 3800 Series Access Point Platforms. 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-2016-9196/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-9196/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-9196
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-9196
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-9196

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-9196/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.