dbcve.org
Nx OsOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2019-1585

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-03-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 4.0 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
A vulnerability in the controller authorization functionality of Cisco Nexus 9000 Series ACI Mode Switch Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to escalate standard users with root privilege on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to a misconfiguration of certain sudoers files for the bashroot component on an affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the affected device with a crafted user ID, which may allow temporary administrative access to escalate privileges. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to escalate privileges on an affected device. This Vulnerability has been fixed in version 4.0(1h)

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

A sudoers misconfiguration in the bashroot component of Cisco Nexus 9000 Series ACI Mode Switch Software allows authenticated local users with a crafted user ID to temporarily gain administrative access and escalate to root privileges. The vulnerability stems from improper authorization settings that can be exploited after standard authentication.

MitigationUpgrade to Cisco Nexus 9000 Series ACI Mode Switch Software version 4.0(1h) or later to address the sudoers misconfiguration. Alternatively, restrict and monitor bashroot access until the upgrade can be performed.

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
Nx OsOperating system
Affected:= 8.3\(0\)sk\(0.39\)
Application Policy Infrastructure Controller SoftwareOperating system
Affected:<= 4.0\(1h\)

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:3.0/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. Check NX-OS version on Nexus 9000 Series ACI Mode Switch
    Execute 'show version' or 'show install all status' on the Nexus 9000 switch CLI to retrieve the installed NX-OS version
    Affected if Version equals 8.3(0)sk(0.39)
  2. Check APIC software version
    Execute 'show version' on the Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) CLI to retrieve the installed software version
    Affected if Version is 4.0(1h) or earlier (4.0(1h) and any version <= 4.0(1h))
  3. Verify bashroot feature is configured
    Check the bashroot configuration by examining the sudoers file at /etc/sudoers or running 'sudo -l' as the affected user context, and look for bashroot-related entries
    Affected if bashroot is enabled and the sudoers file contains misconfigured entries allowing unauthorized privilege escalation
  4. Review user accounts for crafted IDs
    Examine /etc/passwd or use 'show user-account' CLI command to identify any local users with non-standard UID values (typically UID 0 or UID values matching system accounts)
    Affected if There exists an authenticated local user with a crafted user ID that can leverage the sudoers misconfiguration to gain root access

You are affected if you run Cisco NX-OS version 8.3(0)sk(0.39) or APIC software version 4.0(1h) or earlier, and bashroot is configured with the vulnerable sudoers settings.

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 a release after 4.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Cisco Nexus 9000 Series ACI Mode Switch Software version 4.0(1h) or later to address the sudoers misconfiguration. Alternatively, restrict and monitor bashroot access until the upgrade can be performed.

Fix this in Nx Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-1585 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2019-1585 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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