Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This vulnerability can let a valid user account crash affected Cisco security-management or firewall platforms by exhausting resources through many successful SSH logins. The business impact is availability loss: a reload can interrupt security operations or network enforcement. It is not described as data theft or remote takeover.
Executive priority
Treat as a high-priority availability risk for exposed Cisco security infrastructure. Prioritize systems managing critical enforcement or monitoring, especially if administrative SSH is reachable outside a hardened management plane.
Technical view
CVE-2019-12700 is a PAM configuration/resource-management flaw in Cisco FTD, FMC, and FXOS user session handling. An authenticated remote attacker with valid credentials can trigger resource exhaustion through concurrent successful SSH logins, causing device reload and denial of service. CVSS 3.0 score is 7.7 high.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most relevant where Cisco FTD, FMC, or FXOS administrative SSH is reachable by users or networks beyond tightly controlled management access. The source bundle does not provide exact affected version ranges.
Exploitation context
The sources require valid credentials and successful SSH login capability. No CISA KEV listing or cited source in the bundle indicates active exploitation. Public exploit availability is not established by the provided evidence.
Researcher notes
The key constraint is authentication: this is not presented as pre-auth remote exploitation. Evidence in the bundle does not include fixed version details, workarounds, or exploitation in the wild, so remediation should be anchored to Cisco’s advisory.
Mitigation direction
- Review Cisco advisory for affected releases and fixed software guidance.
- Inventory Cisco FTD, FMC, and FXOS systems with SSH administration enabled.
- Restrict SSH administration to trusted management networks and authorized operators.
- Remove unused accounts and enforce least-privilege administrative access.
- Monitor for abnormal concurrent SSH login activity and unexpected reloads.
Validation and detection
- Match deployed Cisco versions against the vendor advisory.
- Confirm SSH management exposure from administrative network boundaries only.
- Review logs for repeated successful SSH logins from one account or source.
- Check device uptime and reload history for unexplained DoS events.
- Verify credential hygiene for accounts allowed to access SSH.
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
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CWE-400: Exact CWE lookup
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Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2019-12700 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
- 7.7 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H3.14Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
7.7HighVector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- 20191002 Cisco FTD, FMC, and FXOS Software Pluggable Authentication Module 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.
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.