Unity ExpressApplication · Cisco
CVE-2019-15986
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 of Cisco Unity Express could allow an authenticated, local attacker to inject arbitrary commands that are executed with root privileges. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need valid administrator credentials. The vulnerability is due to improper input validation for certain CLI commands that are executed on a vulnerable system. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by logging in to the system and sending crafted CLI commands. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system and elevate privileges to root.
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 confidenceCisco Unity Express CLI suffers from improper input validation that allows an authenticated administrator to inject and execute arbitrary operating system commands with root privileges. The attacker must have valid admin credentials and interact with the CLI interface to exploit this vulnerability.
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
Unity ExpressApplication
< 10.1CVSS 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 Cisco Unity Express installationCheck if Cisco Unity Express is deployed in the environment. This is typically a Voicemail/Unity messaging component on Cisco IOS/IOS-XE routers or Cisco UC platforms.Affected if Cisco Unity Express software is installed and running on the system
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Determine the installed versionAccess the Cisco Unity Express CLI and run the command to display the version, typically 'show software version' or 'show version' from the CUE prompt.Affected if The displayed version number is less than 10.1 (for example, 9.x, 8.x, or earlier)
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Verify CLI administrative access existsConfirm that the Cisco Unity Express CLI interface is accessible. This is typically accessed via 'cue-admin' or 'cue' prompt on the router or through remote management interfaces.Affected if CLI interface is accessible and accepts administrator credentials
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Check for existing admin accountsList administrator accounts configured on Cisco Unity Express using 'show user' or 'show users' from the CUE CLI prompt.Affected if There are one or more administrator accounts configured (these credentials would be required for exploitation)
The environment is affected if Cisco Unity Express is installed with a version lower than 10.1 and the CLI interface with administrative accounts is accessible to potential attackers.
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 data10.1
Apply the vendor patch from Cisco when available. Until then, limit administrative access to trusted personnel and monitor CLI activity for unusual commands.
Fix this in Unity Express
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing6.0 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 $3,872.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-15986 — 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-2019-15986 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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