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Nx OsOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2019-1618

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-03-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 7.0 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 Tetration Analytics agent for Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches in standalone NX-OS mode could allow an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary code as root. The vulnerability is due to an incorrect permissions setting. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by replacing valid agent files with malicious code. A successful exploit could result in the execution of code supplied by the attacker. Nexus 9000 Series Switches in Standalone NX-OS Mode are affected running versions prior to 7.0(3)I7(5).

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

Local privilege escalation vulnerability in Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches running standalone NX-OS mode. The Tetration Analytics agent has incorrect file permissions allowing an authenticated local attacker to replace legitimate agent binaries with malicious code, resulting in arbitrary code execution with root privileges.

MitigationUpgrade Cisco Nexus 9000 Series switches to NX-OS version 7.0(3)I7(5) or later which contains the corrected Tetration Analytics agent with proper file permissions.

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:>= 7.0\(3\)i4, < 7.0\(3\)i7\(5\)

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. Check NX-OS version
    Run 'show version' or 'show system version' on the Nexus 9000 switch CLI and locate the NX-OS software version string (typically displayed as 'NX-OS: Version 7.x.x(x)')
    Affected if The installed version is greater than or equal to 7.0(3)I4 AND less than 7.0(3)I7(5)
  2. Confirm the switch is running standalone NX-OS mode
    Run 'show mode' or 'show running-config | include mode' to verify the deployment mode; CVE applies only to standalone NX-OS mode, not ACI mode
    Affected if The switch is in standalone NX-OS mode (not Application Policy Infrastructure Controller mode)
  3. Determine if Tetration Analytics feature is enabled
    Run 'show feature | include tetration' or check the running configuration for tetration-analytics-related configurations using 'show running-config | include tetration'
    Affected if Tetration Analytics feature is installed and enabled on the switch
  4. Inspect Tetration Analytics agent file permissions
    Locate Tetration Analytics agent binary files (typically under /opt or /tetration directories) and run 'ls -la' on each binary file to check write permissions for non-root users
    Affected if Any Tetration Analytics agent binary file shows write permissions for group or other (e.g., permissions like -rwxrwxrwx or -rwxrwxrwx)
  5. Identify running Tetration agent processes
    Run 'show process cpu | include tetration' or 'show processes memory | include tetration' to identify if Tetration Analytics agent processes are currently active
    Affected if Tetration agent processes are running on the system

You are affected if the switch runs standalone NX-OS version 7.0(3)I4 through 7.0(3)I7(4) inclusive AND has Tetration Analytics enabled, with the agent binaries having overly permissive file permissions.

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 7.0 or later
Fixed in 7.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Cisco Nexus 9000 Series switches to NX-OS version 7.0(3)I7(5) or later which contains the corrected Tetration Analytics agent with proper file permissions.

Fix this in Nx Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
Get the upgrade done

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

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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-2019-1618 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