AleosOperating system · Sierrawireless

CVE-2019-11847

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-08-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.4.9 / 4.9.4 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

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 · unedited
An improper privilege management vulnerabitlity exists in ALEOS before 4.11.0, 4.9.4 and 4.4.9. An authenticated user can escalate to root via the command shell.

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 · high confidence

ALEOS before versions 4.11.0, 4.9.4, and 4.4.9 contains an improper privilege management vulnerability allowing authenticated users to escalate to root privileges via the command shell. This is a local privilege escalation flaw in the embedded firmware's command execution functionality.

MitigationUpgrade ALEOS firmware to version 4.11.0, 4.9.4, or 4.4.9 (or later) depending on the active version branch. Restrict command-shell access to authorized administrators only as an interim control.

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
AleosOperating system
Affected:< 4.11.0< 4.9.4< 4.4.9

CVSS 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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify ALEOS device
    Access the device web interface or CLI and retrieve the firmware version information. On most Sierra Wireless gateways, this is found in the web UI under 'Device Information' or via the CLI command 'show system info' or 'at!firmware?'
    Affected if The device is running Sierra Wireless ALEOS firmware before version 4.11.0, 4.9.4, or 4.4.9 in their respective branches
  2. Confirm command shell access is enabled
    Check the device configuration via web UI or CLI for command-shell or shell access settings. Look for 'Command Shell', 'CLI Access', 'Enable Shell', or similar options typically found under Security or Administration settings
    Affected if The command shell feature is enabled and accessible to authenticated (non-root) users
  3. Verify user authentication method
    Review configured user accounts and their privilege levels via the web UI (User Management or Admin accounts section) or CLI command 'show users' or 'show user-config'
    Affected if There are authenticated users with any access level who could access the command shell functionality

You are affected if the device runs ALEOS firmware version below 4.11.0, 4.9.4, or 4.4.9 AND the command shell feature is enabled for authenticated users.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.4.9 / 4.9.4 / 4.11.0 or later
Fixed in 4.4.94.9.44.11.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade ALEOS firmware to version 4.11.0, 4.9.4, or 4.4.9 (or later) depending on the active version branch. Restrict command-shell access to authorized administrators only as an interim control.

Fix this in Aleos Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-11847 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-11847 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data