# CVE-2019-1592: Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Fabric Switches Application Centric Infrastructure Mode Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

> An authenticated local attacker can gain root privileges on Cisco Nexus 9000 switches by exploiting insufficient file validation in background operations.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 3 May 2019
- **Updated:** 20 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-9jvg-6jq4-q9m9

## What is CVE-2019-1592?

CVE-2019-1592 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Nx-Os, published on 3 May 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the background operations functionality of Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) Mode Switch Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to gain elevated privileges as root on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied files on an affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by logging in to the CLI of the affected device and creating a crafted file in a specific directory on the filesystem. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary operating system commands as root on an affected device.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation), CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-1592?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Nx-Os.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-1592?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-1592 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-1592 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-1592 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Nx-Os

- [CVE-2024-20399](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-20399/): Cisco NX-OS Command Injection (medium 6.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-1361](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1361/): Cisco NX-OS Software Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Actions Vulnerability (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2018-0301](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0301/): Memory corruption in Cisco NX-OS unknown (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-1453](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1453/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-1341](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1341/): Hardcoded credentials in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-1592 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-1592 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Nx-Os, published on 3 May 2019. 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-2019-1592 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Nx-Os. 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-2019-1592/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-1592/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-1592
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-1592
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-1592

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-1592/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.