# CVE-2019-15262: Cisco Wireless LAN Controller Secure Shell Denial of Service Vulnerability

> Unauthenticated remote attackers can cause denial of service on Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers by exhausting resources through repeated SSH connections.

- **Severity:** High 8.6 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 16 Oct 2019
- **Updated:** 19 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-mhfm-gfg6-rpxf

## What is CVE-2019-15262?

CVE-2019-15262 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC), published on 16 Oct 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the Secure Shell (SSH) session management for Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability exists because the SSH process is not properly deleted when an SSH connection to the device is disconnected. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by repeatedly opening SSH connections to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust system resources by initiating multiple SSH connections to the device that are not effectively terminated, which could result in a DoS condition.

Weakness: CWE-404 (Improper Resource Shutdown or Release), CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-15262?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Cisco 5508 Wireless Lan Controller Firmware, Cisco 5520 Wireless Lan Controller Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-15262?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-15262 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-15262 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-15262 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-15262 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-15262 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC), published on 16 Oct 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-15262 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC). 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-2019-15262/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-15262/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-15262
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-15262
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-15262

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-15262/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.