Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the FUSE filesystem functionality for Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to escalate privileges to root on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation for certain command strings issued on the CLI of the affected device. An attacker with write permissions for files within a readable folder on the device could alter certain definitions in the affected file. A successful exploit could allow an attacker to cause the underlying FUSE driver to execute said crafted commands, elevating the attacker's privileges to root on an affected device.
- Published
- May 3, 2019
- Updated
- Jun 16, 2026
- EPSS
- 0.4% · 26th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-264
Sign in to follow · You’ll be notified if a followed record enters KEV, gets an exploit or is updated.
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
- 7.8
- agree
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 | application policy infrastructure controller | cpe:2.3:a:cisco:application_policy_infrastructure_controller |
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 controllerbefore 4.1\(1i\)
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 Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC)
- unspecified and later · before 4.1(1i)affected
Same product
cisco: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2021-1581Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Command Injection and File Upload Vulnerabilities36Monitor
- CVE-2021-1579Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller App Privilege Escalation Vulnerability36Monitor
- CVE-2021-1578Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Privilege Escalation Vulnerability36Monitor
- CVE-2021-1577Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Arbitrary File Read and Write Vulnerability36Monitor
- CVE-2023-20011Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller and Cisco Cloud Network Controller Cross-Site Request Forgery Vulnerability35Monitor
- CVE-2017-6768A vulnerability in the build procedure for certain executable system files installed at boot time on Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure31Monitor
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.
- 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-264 · Permissions, Privileges, and Access ControlsCVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/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.
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
- tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20190501-apic-priv-escalation
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.