HighCVE-2019-12700

    Cisco FTD, FMC, and FXOS Software Pluggable Authentication Module Denial of Service Vulnerability (CVE-2019-12700)

    Published Last modified Sources: CVE.org

    What is affected, what to do

    A vulnerability in the configuration of the Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) used in Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software, Cisco Firepower Management Center (FMC) Software, and Cisco FXOS Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to improper resource management in the context of user session management.

    Update Cisco Firepower eXtensible Operating System (FXOS) to version 2.3.1.155, Cisco Firepower eXtensible Operating System (FXOS) to version 2.6.1.131, Cisco Firepower Management Center to version 6.2.3.14.

    Affected
    • Cisco Firepower 9300 Firmware eq r114..r114
    • Cisco Firepower 9300 Firmware eq r241..r241
    • Cisco Firepower eXtensible Operating System (FXOS) lte *..2.2
    • Cisco Firepower eXtensible Operating System (FXOS) lt 2.3..2.3.1.155
    • Cisco Firepower eXtensible Operating System (FXOS) lt 2.4..2.6.1.131
    • Cisco Firepower Management Center lte *..6.1.0
    • Cisco Firepower Management Center lt 6.2.0..6.2.3.14
    • Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software lte *..6.1.0
    • Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software lt 6.2.0..6.2.3.14
    • Cisco Firepower Management Center lt 6.2.3..6.2.3.7
    • Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software lt 6.2.0..6.2.2.5
    • Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software lt 6.2.3..6.2.3.7
    Fixed in
    • Cisco Firepower eXtensible Operating System (FXOS) 2.3.1.155
    • Cisco Firepower eXtensible Operating System (FXOS) 2.6.1.131
    • Cisco Firepower Management Center 6.2.3.14
    • Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software 6.2.3.14
    • Cisco Firepower Management Center 6.2.3.7
    • Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software 6.2.2.5
    • Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software 6.2.3.7

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    7.7

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: Vendor (CNA), CVSS v3

    7.7

    CVSS v3

    Severity High on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: CVE.org

    1.9 %

    EPSS score

    Moderate — model estimates 1-10% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 79.5

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    High
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    89.00 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    no public PoC known
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    7.7 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    7.7
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

    Read in glossary
    1.9 %
    Moderate — model estimates 1-10% exploitation likelihood.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

    Read in glossary
    79.5
    High — this CVE ranks above the median of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 36%).
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    —
    Published
    CISA assessment (SSVC)
    Exploitation: none known · not automatable · Technical impact: partial
    Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 21 November 2024
    CWE

    CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect.

    Read in glossary
    CWE-400

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    High technical severity: assess and remediate the vulnerability in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2 and document the decision.
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    A vulnerability in the configuration of the Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) used in Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software, Cisco Firepower Management Center (FMC) Software, and Cisco FXOS Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to improper resource management in the context of user session management. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by connecting to an affected system and performing many simultaneous successful Secure Shell (SSH) logins. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust system resources and cause the device to reload, resulting in a DoS condition. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker needs valid user credentials on the system.

    Source: cvelistv5, NVD (NIST)

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    ciscosecure_firewall_management_center
    • ≤ 6.1.0
    • 6.2.0 – < 6.2.3.14
    • 6.2.3 – < 6.2.3.7
    • —
    • 6.2.3.14
    • 6.2.3.7
    ciscosecure_firewall_threat_defense
    • 6.2.3 – < 6.2.3.7
    • 6.2.0 – < 6.2.2.5
    • 6.2.0 – < 6.2.3.14
    • ≤ 6.1.0
    • 6.2.3.7
    • 6.2.2.5
    • 6.2.3.14
    • —

    Vendors and products

    Affected operating systems

    Affected operating systems
    Otherciscofirepower_9300_firmwarer114
    Otherciscofirepower_9300_firmwarer241
    Otherciscofirepower_extensible_operating_system—

    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

      Class

      The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-400

    References & sources

    • tools.cisco.com20191002 Cisco FTD, FMC, and FXOS Software Pluggable Authentication Module Denial of Service VulnerabilityVendor advisory, x_refsource_CISCO

    Changes to this CVE

    Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

    1. Product identifiers remappedNVD

      Product mapping changed:
      Show the original change
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Product configurationchanged
      OR *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:firepower_threat_defense:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 6.1.0
      OR *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_firewall_threat_defense:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 6.1.0

      Source identifier: nvd@nist.gov

    2. Product identifiers remappedNVD

      Product mapping changed:
      Show the original change
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Product configurationchanged
      OR *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:firepower_threat_defense:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 6.2.0 from (excluding) 6.2.3.14
      OR *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_firewall_threat_defense:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 6.2.0 from (excluding) 6.2.3.14

      Source identifier: nvd@nist.gov

    3. Product identifiers remappedNVD

      Product mapping changed:
      Show the original change
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Product configurationchanged
      OR *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:firepower_threat_defense:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 6.2.0 from (excluding) 6.2.2.5
      OR *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_firewall_threat_defense:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 6.2.0 from (excluding) 6.2.2.5

      Source identifier: nvd@nist.gov

    4. Product identifiers remappedNVD

      Product mapping changed:
      Show the original change
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Product configurationchanged
      OR *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:firepower_threat_defense:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 6.2.3 from (excluding) 6.2.3.7
      OR *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_firewall_threat_defense:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 6.2.3 from (excluding) 6.2.3.7

      Source identifier: nvd@nist.gov

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