Ios XrOperating system · Cisco
CVE-2019-12709
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 a CLI command related to the virtualization manager (VMAN) in Cisco IOS XR Software for Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers could allow an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying Linux operating system with root privileges. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of arguments passed to a specific VMAN CLI command on an affected device. An attacker who has valid administrator access to an affected device could exploit this vulnerability by including malicious input as the argument of an affected command. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to run arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system with root privileges, which may lead to complete system compromise.
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 confidenceThe vulnerability exists in the VMAN (virtualization manager) CLI command in Cisco IOS XR Software on ASR 9000 Series routers. The CLI command fails to properly validate arguments, allowing an authenticated administrator to inject arbitrary shell commands that execute with root privileges on the underlying Linux OS.
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
Ios XrOperating system
>= 5.1.0, < 6.5.3>= 6.6.0, < 6.6.2CVSS 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:3.1/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 hardware platformExecute 'show platform' or 'show version' on the router to confirm it is an ASR 9000 Series routerAffected if Device is an ASR 9000 Series router running Cisco IOS XR Software
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Check IOS XR versionExecute 'show version' and locate the IOS XR release version (for example, 5.3.1, 6.5.2, 6.6.1). Compare your version against the affected ranges: 5.1.0 to before 6.5.3, or 6.6.0 to before 6.6.2Affected if Installed version falls within 5.1.0 <= version < 6.5.3 OR 6.6.0 <= version < 6.6.2
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Verify VMAN feature availabilityAttempt to access the VMAN CLI by running 'vman' or 'vman ?' at the IOS XR prompt. VMAN is the virtualization manager CLI featureAffected if VMAN CLI command is accessible and responds on the device
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Check for suspicious processesFrom IOS XR exec mode, run 'show processes' or 'run ls -la /var/log' to inspect running processes or recent command activity on the underlying Linux shellAffected if Unexpected processes are running or unusual command logs exist that were not initiated by legitimate administrators
A user is affected if they are running Cisco IOS XR on an ASR 9000 router with a version in the ranges 5.1.0 to before 6.5.3 or 6.6.0 to before 6.6.2, and the VMAN CLI feature is accessible on their system.
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 data6.5.36.6.2
Apply the Cisco IOS XR Software update addressing CVE-2019-12709. Until patched, limit administrative access and monitor CLI command usage for suspicious patterns.
Fix this in Ios Xr
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-12709 — 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-2019-12709 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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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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