# CVE-2019-1816: Cisco Web Security Appliance Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

> Authenticated local attackers can inject commands into the log subscription subsystem to execute arbitrary code and gain root privileges on Cisco WSA devices.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L`)
- **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:** 21 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-846c-pcw3-c872

## What is CVE-2019-1816?

CVE-2019-1816 is a medium-severity command injection vulnerability in Cisco Web Security Appliance, 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 log subscription subsystem of the Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA) could allow an authenticated, local attacker to perform command injection and elevate privileges to root. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input on the web and command-line interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the affected device and injecting scripting commands in the scope of the log subscription subsystem. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system and elevate privileges to root.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-1816?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Web Security Appliance.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-1816?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-1816 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-1816 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-1816 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Web Security Appliance

- [CVE-2015-6298](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-6298/): Command injection in n/a (critical 9.0)
- [CVE-2019-1817](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-1817/): Cisco Web Security Appliance Malformed Request Denial of Service Vulnerability (high 8.6)
- [CVE-2018-0410](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0410/): Denial of service in AsyncOS Software for Cisco Web Security Appliances (high 8.6)
- [CVE-2015-6292](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-6292/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2015-6293](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-6293/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-1816 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-1816 is a medium-severity command injection vulnerability in Cisco Web Security Appliance, 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-2019-1816 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Web Security Appliance. 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-2019-1816/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-1816/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-1816
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-1816
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-1816

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-1816/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.