NessusApplication · Tenable

CVE-2019-3982

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-10-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 8.6.0 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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
Nessus versions 8.6.0 and earlier were found to contain a Denial of Service vulnerability due to improper validation of specific imported scan types. An authenticated, remote attacker could potentially exploit this vulnerability to cause a Nessus scanner to become temporarily unresponsive.

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

Nessus versions 8.6.0 and earlier contain a Denial of Service vulnerability stemming from improper validation of specific imported scan types. An authenticated, remote attacker can exploit this by importing specially crafted scan data, causing the Nessus scanner to become temporarily unresponsive.

MitigationUpgrade Nessus to a version newer than 8.6.0. Additionally, restrict access to the Nessus web interface to trusted, authenticated users only to reduce the attack surface.

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
NessusApplication
Affected:<= 8.6.0

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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. Determine installed Nessus version
    Locate the Nessus installation and retrieve its version number. On the Nessus web interface, this is typically displayed on the login page or in the 'About' section under 'Settings'. If using nessuscli or the Linux package, run 'nessusd -v' or check the RPM/DEB package metadata.
    Affected if The installed version is 8.6.0 or any earlier version (e.g., 8.5.1, 8.5.0, 8.4.0, etc.)
  2. Verify Nessus web interface accessibility
    Determine if the Nessus web interface (port 8834 by default) is exposed to untrusted networks or the public internet. Check network firewall rules, reverse proxy configurations, or cloud security groups that control access to port 8834.
    Affected if The Nessus web interface is reachable from untrusted or remote networks without VPN or IP-based restrictions
  3. Confirm authentication requirements for web UI
    Verify that the Nessus web interface requires valid credentials for access. Attempt an unauthenticated connection to the Nessus login page or confirm through documentation that local user accounts or SSO are enforced.
    Affected if The web interface permits unauthenticated access or uses default/weak credentials that could be easily compromised

You are affected if Nessus version is 8.6.0 or earlier AND the web interface is accessible to remote, untrusted users who could import malicious scan data.

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 8.6.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Nessus to a version newer than 8.6.0. Additionally, restrict access to the Nessus web interface to trusted, authenticated users only to reduce the attack surface.

Fix this in Nessus Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-3982 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-3982 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