Mobility Services EngineApplication · Cisco
CVE-2016-9197
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedA vulnerability in the CLI command parser of the Cisco Mobility Express 2800 and 3800 Series Wireless LAN Controllers could allow an authenticated, local attacker to obtain access to the underlying operating system shell with root-level privileges. More Information: CSCvb70351. Known Affected Releases: 8.3(102.0).
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceA vulnerability in the CLI command parser of Cisco Mobility Express 2800 and 3800 Series Wireless LAN Controllers allows an authenticated local attacker to escape the CLI and gain access to the underlying operating system with root-level privileges. The flaw exists in how the CLI processes certain commands, enabling privilege escalation from authenticated admin to root.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Mobility Services EngineApplication
= 8.3.102.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the installed productLog into the device CLI or management interface and confirm the product name is Cisco Mobility Services Engine. Use 'show version' or check the system information page.Affected if The product is not Cisco Mobility Services Engine, then this CVE does not apply.
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Check the installed software versionExecute 'show version' in the CLI or check the firmware version in the management GUI. Look for a version string of exactly 8.3.102.0Affected if The version is 8.3.102.0 exactly, the system is potentially affected. Versions other than 8.3.102.0 are not in the affected range.
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Verify CLI access is enabledConfirm the CLI management interface is accessible. Check if SSH or console access to the controller is allowed and notfirewalled from administrative users.Affected if CLI access is required for exploitation; if CLI is disabled or unreachable, the vulnerability cannot be triggered even on the affected version.
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Confirm admin-level credentials existReview local user accounts or confirm admin-level authentication is configured. The vulnerability requires an authenticated admin session to escalate privileges.Affected if No admin-level accounts exist or RADIUS/TACACS authentication with limited privileges is enforced, exploitation may not be possible.
The environment is affected only if running Cisco Mobility Services Engine version 8.3.102.0 with accessible CLI and an authenticated admin account.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataApply the Cisco patch for CSCvb70351; upgrade to a fixed release beyond 8.3(102.0). Restrict physical and logical access to the WLC management interfaces to prevent unauthorized local authentication.
Fix this in Mobility Services Engine
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-9197 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-9197 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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