NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

CVE-2019-12181: A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in SolarWinds Serv-U before 15.1.7 for Linux.

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Plan (action score 55/100)

A ready-made attack module is public (Metasploit); exploiting it takes no special expertise.
Public proof-of-concept code exists (Exploit-DB, GitHub); there is no record of exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 65.4% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 99.2% of all records.
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.

Add it to your regular patch cycle. Update when a fix is released; follow the vendor's advisory.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

HighCVSS 8.8 · v3.1—Weaponized No fix recorded

Published: Jun 17, 2019
Updated: Jun 16, 2026
EPSS: 65.4% · 99th percentile
CWE: CWE-78

Report tools

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Action score

Plan

Add it to your regular patch cycle.

CVSS: 35 / 40 · 8.8 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 20 / 30 · 65.4%

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
Weaponized exploit exists
No fixed version yet

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
solarwinds	serv-u ftp server	cpe:2.3:a:solarwinds:serv-u_ftp_server
solarwinds	serv-u mft server	cpe:2.3:a:solarwinds:serv-u_mft_server

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

solarwinds serv-u ftp serverbefore 15.1.7
solarwinds serv-u mft serverbefore 15.1.7

Same product

solarwinds: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2020-15541SolarWinds Serv-U FTP server before 15.2.1 allows remote command execution.
41Plan
CVE-2020-15543SolarWinds Serv-U FTP server before 15.2.1 does not validate an argument path.
39Monitor
CVE-2020-15542SolarWinds Serv-U FTP server before 15.2.1 mishandles the CHMOD command.
39Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2018-19934Mar 21, 2019 · SolarWinds Serv-U FTP Server 15.1.6.25 has reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) in the Web management interface via URL path and HTTP POST p
21Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2018-19999Jun 7, 2019 · The local management interface in SolarWinds Serv-U FTP Server 15.1.6.25 has incorrect access controls that permit local users to bypass aut
31Monitor
Later →CVE-2019-13181Dec 16, 2019 · A CSV injection vulnerability exists in the web UI of SolarWinds Serv-U FTP Server v15.1.7.
27Monitor

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

Weaponized

A ready exploit tool or active in-the-wild use is known for this vulnerability. This should be your top priority.

Evidence

Metasploit module ×1
Exploit-DB entry ×4
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub ×1

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
Source	Kind	Date
Exploit-DB entry	local	2019-07-03
Exploit-DB entry	local	2019-07-03
Exploit-DB entry	local	2019-06-18
Exploit-DB entry	local	2019-01-13
Metasploit module	exploit/linux/local/servu_ftp_server_prepareinstallation_priv_escServ-U FTP Server prepareinstallation Privilege Escalationexploit	2019-06-05
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub	stars:7	2019-06-12

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.

First PoCJan 13, 2019-156 d
MetasploitJun 5, 2019-13 d
PublishedJun 17, 2019
TodayOct 26, 2026+2688 d

EPSS, last 120 days-1% in 7 days

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 researchers

Finders, 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

SolarWinds VDPIntigriti · disclosure only (VDP)

The product’s vendor appears in a public program. Matched by name; verify the scope text in the program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
A low-privileged account is enough.
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: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: Low
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:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1const host = req.body.host;
2exec("ping -c 1 " + host, onResult);

Fixed

1const host = req.body.host;
2if (!/^[a-z0-9.-]{1,253}$/i.test(host)) return res.sendStatus(400);
3execFile("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)

ATT&CK techniques

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Change log

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

References

blog.vastart.dev/2019/06/cve-2019-12181-serv-u-exploit-writeup.html

Show all references (2 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records

Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

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Data sources and verification

CNA: mitre

CVE.org (CNA)Aug 4, 2024, 11:10 PM UTC
NVDJun 16, 2026, 10:14 PM UTC
FIRST EPSSOct 25, 2026, 12:00 AM UTC
Exploit-DBOct 26, 2026, 3:18 AM UTC
MetasploitOct 26, 2026, 3:19 AM UTC
PoC-in-GitHubOct 26, 2026, 3:19 AM UTC

Each line is when that source was last processed for this record.