Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This flaw can let an unauthenticated attacker knock over Cisco firewall/security devices that inspect FTP traffic. The business impact is outage risk: affected ASA or Firepower Threat Defense devices may stop providing security or connectivity for dependent networks.
Executive priority
Treat as high priority for environments relying on Cisco ASA or FTD for network availability. The risk is operational disruption, not data theft, but firewall outages can affect many dependent services.
Technical view
CVE-2019-12673 affects the FTP inspection engine in Cisco ASA Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software. Insufficient FTP data validation can allow malicious FTP traffic passing through an affected device to trigger a denial-of-service condition. CVSS 3.0 score is 8.6, availability impact high.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where Cisco ASA or FTD devices process FTP traffic with FTP inspection enabled. The provided bundle does not include exact affected or fixed versions, so version exposure must be checked against Cisco’s advisory.
Exploitation context
The source states remote, unauthenticated exploitation is possible through malicious FTP traffic traversing an affected device. CISA KEV status is false in the bundle, and no provided source confirms active exploitation.
Researcher notes
Key evidence is vendor and CVE data. The weakness is mapped to CWE-119, but the bundle does not provide detailed root-cause internals, affected version ranges, fixed versions, or confirmed exploitation telemetry.
Mitigation direction
- Review Cisco’s advisory for affected releases and fixed software guidance.
- Upgrade affected ASA or FTD deployments according to Cisco guidance.
- Limit FTP traffic through security devices where business use is unnecessary.
- Review FTP inspection configuration and apply vendor-supported workarounds only if documented.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Cisco ASA and FTD devices in perimeter and internal network paths.
- Identify devices handling FTP traffic or running FTP inspection.
- Compare software releases against Cisco’s advisory for CVE-2019-12673.
- Check monitoring for unexpected device reloads, failovers, or FTP-related inspection faults.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-119: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2019-12673 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 8.6 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H3.94Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
8.6HighVector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- 20191002 Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software and Firepower Threat Defense Software FTP Inspection Denial of Service VulnerabilityCVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_CISCO
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer
Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.