Cisco NX-OS Software Line Card Command Injection Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker with administrator credentials to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying Linux operating system of an attached line card with the privilege level of root. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of arguments passed to a specific CLI command on the affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by including malicious input as the argument of an affected command. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying Linux operating system of an attached line card with elevated privileges. An attacker would need valid administrator credentials to exploit this vulnerability.
- Published
- May 15, 2019
- Updated
- Jun 16, 2026
- EPSS
- 0.5% · 39th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-78
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Report tools
Action score
26
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 26 / 40 · 6.7 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 0.5%
CISA SSVC decision
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- total
Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.
CNA vs NVD score
- NVD
- 6.7
- CNA · cisco
- 6.7
- agree
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.
Affected systems
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| cisco | nx-os | cpe:2.3:o:cisco:nx-os |
| cisco | nexus 3016 | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_3016 |
| cisco | nexus 3048 | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_3048 |
| cisco | nexus 3064 | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_3064 |
| cisco | nexus 3064-t | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_3064-t |
| cisco | nexus 31108pc-v | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_31108pc-v |
| cisco | nexus 31108tc-v | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_31108tc-v |
| cisco | nexus 31128pq | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_31128pq |
| cisco | nexus 3132c-z | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_3132c-z |
| cisco | nexus 3132q | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_3132q |
| cisco | nexus 3132q-v | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_3132q-v |
| cisco | nexus 3132q-xl | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_3132q-xl |
and 55 more
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- cisco nx-osbefore 7.0\(3\)i7\(6\)
- cisco nx-os7.0\(3\) and later · before 7.0\(3\)f3\(5\)
Versions reported by the vendor
Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (cisco). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.
Cisco Cisco NX-OS Software
- unspecified and later · before 8.3(1)affected
Same product
cisco: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2024-20399Cisco NX-OS Software CLI Command Injection VulnerabilityKEV57Plan
- CVE-2018-0301A vulnerability in the NX-API feature of Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to craft a packet to the manag44Plan
- CVE-2016-1453Buffer overflow in the Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV) GRE feature in Cisco NX-OS 5.0 through 7.3 on Nexus 7000 and 7700 devices allo41Plan
- CVE-2018-0310A vulnerability in the Cisco Fabric Services component of Cisco FXOS Software and Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an unauthenticated, remot40Plan
- CVE-2022-20650Cisco NX-OS Software NX-API Command Injection Vulnerability39Monitor
- CVE-2016-1341Cisco NX-OS 7.0(1)N1(1), 7.0(1)N1(3), and 7.0(4)N1(1) on Nexus 2000 Fabric Extender devices has a blank root password, which allows local us39Monitor
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
No credits in the CNA record.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
- Administrator privileges are required.
- No user action is required.
- No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- high · data can be read
- Integrity
- high · data or configuration can be modified
- Availability
- high · the service can be disrupted
- Attack vector
- Local
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- High
- Integrity impact
- High
- Availability impact
- High
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-78 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
nvd-primary
Root cause
User input is inserted as text into a shell command. The shell may interpret special characters in the input as part of the command.
The bug in code
The whole CWE-78 classA representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.
Vulnerable
const host = req.body.host;exec("ping -c 1 " + host, onResult);Fixed
const host = req.body.host;if (!/^[a-z0-9.-]{1,253}$/i.test(host)) return res.sendStatus(400);execFile("ping", ["-c", "1", host], onResult);Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
Attack patterns (CAPEC)
- Command Line Execution through SQL InjectionCAPEC-108likelihood: Low · Very High
- Command DelimitersCAPEC-15likelihood: High · High
- Exploiting Multiple Input Interpretation LayersCAPEC-43likelihood: Medium · High
- Argument InjectionCAPEC-6likelihood: High · High
- OS Command InjectionCAPEC-88likelihood: High · High
ATT&CK techniques
—
Noroxi analysis
No Noroxi analysis for this record yet
We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.
We use this product, ask for helpChange log
No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.
References
- www.securityfocus.com/bid/108393
- tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20190515-nxos-linecardinj-1769
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.