CriticalCVE-2019-19006

    Sangoma FreePBX Improper Authentication Vulnerability (CVE-2019-19006)

    Published Last modified In CISA KEV since Sources: CVE.org

    What is affected, what to do

    Sangoma FreePBX 115.0.16.26 and below, 14.0.13.11 and below, 13.0.197.13 and below have Incorrect Access Control.

    The vulnerability is being actively exploited; treat it as a priority. The available sources name no fixed version. Check the vendor guidance in the references below. Immediate actions, mitigation and detection rules are in the runbook below.

    Affected
    • Sangoma FreePBX lte 13.0.0.0..13.0.197.13
    • Sangoma FreePBX lte 14.0.0.0..14.0.13.11
    • Sangoma FreePBX lte 15.0.0.0..15.0.16.26

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

    Metrics

    9.8

    Priority

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

    Source: NVD, CVSS v3

    9.8

    CVSS v3

    Severity Critical on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: CVE.org

    56.0 %

    EPSS score

    High — model estimates ≥ 50% chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 99.05

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    Critical
    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
    227.49 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
    actively exploited
    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
    9.8 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
    9.8
    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
    56.0 %
    High — model estimates ≥ 50% chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days.
    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
    99.05
    Critical — this CVE ranks in the top fifth of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 80%).
    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
    Actively exploited
    Published
    In CISA KEV since

    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
    CISA assessment (SSVC)
    Exploitation: active · automatable · Technical impact: total
    Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 3 February 2026
    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-287

    Response and mitigation

    Why act now?

    Prioritisation rationale

    This is a network-reachable flaw requiring no authentication or user interaction, and it yields full administrative control of the phone system. It sits among the CVEs most likely to be exploited. Attackers typically monetise such access through toll fraud via rogue trunks and routes, drop web shells, and use the PBX as a pivot into internal networks. Internet-exposed FreePBX deployments at SMEs, call centres and managed-service providers are the classic target. CISA does not flag known ransomware use, but the financial impact of toll fraud is immediate. Treat any instance with an internet-facing admin GUI as critical and patch or isolate it today. Internal-only instances are high priority within the normal patch cycle.

    1. Runbook step 1

      Immediate response (0-24 h)

      • Inventory: Identify every FreePBX instance and check the installed framework module version (fwconsole ma list | grep -i framework). Affected releases are 13.0.0.0–13.0.197.13, 14.0.0.0–14.0.13.11 and 15.0.0.0–15.0.16.26.
      • Patch: Upgrade the framework module beyond the affected ranges (fwconsole ma upgrade framework && fwconsole reload). A patch is available from the vendor — look up the exact fixed version in the Sangoma security advisory. Instances on EOL major versions (13.x/14.x) should also be scheduled for migration to a supported release.
      • Remove admin GUI exposure: Block /admin (TCP 80/443) from the internet right away. Allow access only from a dedicated management network or via VPN. Prioritise any host that cannot be patched today.
      • Compromise assessment: Check the ampusers table for unknown admin accounts (mysql asterisk -e "select username from ampusers;"). Also review recently created extensions, trunks, outbound routes and custom dialplan in extensions_custom.conf.
      • Rotate credentials: Reset all FreePBX admin passwords, extension SIP secrets and SIP trunk credentials. If compromise is suspected, notify your SIP provider and request blocks or spending caps on international and premium-rate destinations.

    2. Runbook step 2

      Mitigation layers

      • Network segmentation: Place the PBX in a dedicated voice VLAN. Permit HTTP/HTTPS to the GUI from the admin network only. Restrict SIP (UDP/TCP 5060, TLS 5061) and RTP to provider IP ranges and handset subnets.
      • Host firewall: Enable the FreePBX Firewall and Responsive Firewall. Do not grant the "Internet" zone access to the "Admin" service, and define trusted networks explicitly. Keep fail2ban jails apache-auth and asterisk active.
      • Reverse proxy/WAF: If external GUI access is unavoidable, put /admin/* behind a reverse proxy enforcing pre-authentication (client certificates, SSO/MFA or an IP allowlist). Drop unauthenticated external requests to /admin/config.php and /admin/ajax.php.
      • Abuse containment: Restrict outbound routes to required country codes with allowlist dial patterns. Set per-trunk channel limits and configure provider-side spend limits and alerts.
      • Integrity monitoring: Apply file integrity monitoring (AIDE/auditd) to /var/www/html/admin/, /etc/asterisk/ and cron directories. Constrain the web-server user (asterisk) from interactive shell use where operationally feasible.

    3. Runbook step 3

      Detection rules

      • Web access logs (Apache access_log/ssl_access_log): Look for POSTs to /admin/config.php or /admin/ajax.php from external IPs, especially HTTP 200 responses without a preceding login flow. Example SPL: index=web uri_path="/admin/*" NOT src_ip IN (10.0.0.0/8,172.16.0.0/12,192.168.0.0/16) | stats count by src_ip, uri_path, status.
      • Process ancestry (EDR/auditd): Alert on shells or downloaders spawned by httpd/php-fpm running as user asterisk. Sigma shape: ParentImage|endswith: ['/httpd','/php-fpm'] AND Image|endswith: ['/sh','/bash','/wget','/curl','/python']. For auditd use -a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S execve -F uid=asterisk -k pbx_exec.
      • Filesystem: Watch for new .php files under /var/www/html/ (web shells), modified extensions_custom.conf, and new crontab entries for asterisk. Collect these via auditd (-w /var/www/html -p wa -k pbx_web) or FIM alerts.
      • Application layer: Flag new rows in ampusers and trunks or outbound routes created outside change windows. Review /var/log/asterisk/freepbx.log for config changes by unfamiliar users.
      • CDR/network: Watch for spikes in outbound calls to international or premium destinations, particularly out of hours. In Zeek/Suricata this appears as off-hours SIP INVITE volume towards the provider trunk.

    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
    Actively exploited: treat the vulnerability as a priority in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2. If it is exploited in your environment, check the reporting obligation under Art. 23 (early warning within 24 hours).
    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
    Since 11.09.2026, manufacturers of affected products with digital elements must report actively exploited vulnerabilities under Art. 14 CRA, with an early warning within 24 hours via ENISA's single reporting platform.
    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

    Sangoma FreePBX 115.0.16.26 and below, 14.0.13.11 and below, 13.0.197.13 and below have Incorrect Access Control.

    Source: cvelistv5, CISA KEV Catalog, NVD (NIST), CVE.org (MITRE)

    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
    sangomafreepbx
    • 14.0.0.0 – ≤ 14.0.13.11
    • 15.0.0.0 – ≤ 15.0.16.26
    • 13.0.0.0 – ≤ 13.0.197.13
    • —
    • —
    • —

    Vendors and products

    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-287Improper Authentication

      Class

      When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-287

    Public exploit references

    Publicly reported proof-of-concepts, exploit modules and detection templates for this vulnerability. NEOSEC links to the original sources only and does not provide any exploit code.

    Public exploit references
    CISA KEV CatalogCISA Known Exploited Vulnerability (opens in a new tab)cisa.govactively exploited

    References & sources

    • freepbx.orgcategory/blogx_refsource_MISC
    • wiki.freepbx.orgdisplay/FOP/2019-11-20+Remote+Admin+Authentication+Bypassx_refsource_CONFIRM
    • community.freepbx.orgt/freepbx-security-vulnerability-sec-2019-001/62772x_refsource_MISC
    • pastebin.com2CdsQMKWx_refsource_MISC
    • research.checkpoint.com2020/inj3ctor3-operation-leveraging-asterisk-servers-for-moneti…Third-party advisory
    • cisa.govknown-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2019-19006government-resource

    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. NVD analysis modifiedNVD

    Embed badge

    Show the severity and KEV status of this vulnerability on your site – with a link back here. The image is updated hourly.

    Badge preview for CVE-2019-19006
    <a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2019-19006"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2019-19006.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2019-19006 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>