Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Fabric Switches Application-Centric Infrastructure Mode Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the controller authorization functionality of Cisco Nexus 9000 Series ACI Mode Switch Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to escalate standard users with root privilege on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to a misconfiguration of certain sudoers files for the bashroot component on an affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the affected device with a crafted user ID, which may allow temporary administrative access to escalate privileges. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to escalate privileges on an affected device. This Vulnerability has been fixed in version 4.0(1h)
- Published
- Mar 6, 2019
- Updated
- Jun 16, 2026
- EPSS
- 0.4% · 31th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-16
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Report tools
Action score
31
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 31 / 40 · 7.8 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 0.4%
CISA SSVC decision
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- total
Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.
CNA vs NVD score
- NVD
- 7.8
- CNA · cisco
- 6.7
- 1.1 point gap
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.
Noroxi analysis
No Noroxi analysis for this record yet
We don't hand-write analysis for the hundreds of thousands of vulnerabilities in the database; 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 helpAffected systems
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| cisco | nx-os | cpe:2.3:o:cisco:nx-os |
| cisco | nexus 92160yc-x | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_92160yc-x |
| cisco | nexus 92304qc | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_92304qc |
| cisco | nexus 9236c | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_9236c |
| cisco | nexus 9272q | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_9272q |
| cisco | nexus 93108tc-ex | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_93108tc-ex |
| cisco | nexus 93120tx | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_93120tx |
| cisco | nexus 93128tx | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_93128tx |
| cisco | nexus 93180yc-ex | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_93180yc-ex |
| cisco | nexus 9332pq | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_9332pq |
| cisco | nexus 9336pq aci spine | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_9336pq_aci_spine |
| cisco | nexus 9372px | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_9372px |
and 8 more
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller softwareup to 4.0\(1h\) inclusive
- cisco nx-os8.3(0)sk(0.39)
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 for Nexus 9000 Series Fabric Switches ACI Mode
- unspecified and later · before 4.0(1h)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.
| Product / package | Fixed version | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Cisco Cisco NX-OS Software for Nexus 9000 Series Fabric Switches ACI Mode | 4.0 · description | Vendor (CNA) |
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).
National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)
Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.
- TR-19-018 · Mar 7, 2019(Cisco Güvenlik Güncellemeleri Yayınladı)
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Someone with local access to the system 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
- Local
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- High
- Integrity impact
- High
- Availability impact
- High
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-16 · ConfigurationCVSS vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
nvd-primary
Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.
Change log
- Fix✗ → ✓
For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →
References
- www.securityfocus.com/bid/107312
- tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20190306-aci-controller-privsec
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.