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Adaptive Security Appliance SoftwareApplication · Cisco

CVE-2019-1944

HIGH · 7.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-08-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 9.4.4.37 or later.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated

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
Multiple vulnerabilities in the smart tunnel functionality of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to the root user or load a malicious library file while the tunnel is being established. For more information about these vulnerabilities, see the Details section of this security advisory.

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 · moderate confidence

Multiple vulnerabilities in the smart tunnel functionality of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to root user or load a malicious library file while the tunnel is being established.

MitigationApply Cisco security updates for ASA when released; restrict local authenticated access to trusted personnel and monitor for privilege escalation or suspicious library loading patterns.

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
Adaptive Security Appliance SoftwareApplication
Affected:< 9.4.4.37

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
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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 ASA software version
    Log into the ASA CLI and run 'show version' to display the running software version. Alternatively, check via ASDM by navigating to Monitoring > Properties > Device Information.
    Affected if The displayed version is lower than 9.4.4.37 (for example, 9.4.4.20, 9.4.3.x, or any version in the 9.x line prior to 9.4.4.37).
  2. Determine if smart tunnel is enabled
    From ASA CLI, run 'show running-config all webvpn' to view webvpn configuration, then search for 'smart-tunnel' entries. In ASDM, check Configuration > Remote Access VPN > Clientless SSL VPN Access > WebVPN > Smart Tunnel.
    Affected if Smart tunnel is configured and enabled (any 'smart-tunnel' policy points are present in the configuration).
  3. Check for unauthorized admin accounts
    Run 'show running-config all username' to list all configured local users. Verify all accounts are expected and authorized by comparing to your change management records.
    Affected if Unexpected usernames exist, especially those with privilege level 15 or membership in the 'admin' group.
  4. Inspect for suspicious library loading indicators
    Review ASA syslog or audit logs for events around tunnel establishment. Look for failed library load attempts or errors referencing .so or .dll files in non-standard paths.
    Affected if Log entries show failed library loads or attempts to load libraries from unexpected locations during smart tunnel sessions.

You are affected if your ASA runs software version below 9.4.4.37 AND smart tunnel is enabled, making privilege escalation or malicious library injection possible.

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 9.4.4.37 or later
Fixed in 9.4.4.37
Interim mitigation

Apply Cisco security updates for ASA when released; restrict local authenticated access to trusted personnel and monitor for privilege escalation or suspicious library loading patterns.

Fix this in Adaptive Security Appliance Software Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,980
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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-2019-1944 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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