Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This flaw lets a logged-in router administrator run operating-system commands on affected Cisco Small Business RV routers. If abused, the attacker gets root-level control of the device. Business urgency is high where these routers protect offices, VPNs, or branch networks, but the known prerequisite is administrative access.
Executive priority
Treat this as high priority for edge or branch routers. The privilege requirement lowers likelihood, but successful compromise gives root-level device control and could undermine network boundary trust.
Technical view
CVE-2019-15957 is an authenticated command injection issue in the web-based management interface of Cisco RV016, RV042, RV042G, RV082, RV320, and RV325 routers. It stems from insufficient input validation. A remote attacker with administrative privileges can submit malicious input that is processed as root-level Linux commands.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely in organizations still operating the listed Cisco Small Business RV Series routers, especially where the web management interface is reachable over a network path available to administrators or compromised admin accounts.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. The vulnerability is still serious because exploitation requires no user interaction after administrative access and can provide root control of the router operating system.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE record and Cisco advisory metadata in the bundle. Do not assume unauthenticated exploitation, public exploit availability, or a specific patch level without consulting Cisco’s advisory.
Mitigation direction
- Review Cisco’s advisory for fixed software or official mitigation guidance.
- Prioritize affected routers whose management interfaces are remotely reachable.
- Restrict administrative interface access to trusted management networks.
- Review and rotate router administrator credentials where compromise is plausible.
- Replace or retire affected devices if no supported vendor fix is available.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Cisco RV016, RV042, RV042G, RV082, RV320, and RV325 routers.
- Confirm whether each device runs affected Small Business RV Series firmware.
- Check whether the web management interface is reachable from untrusted networks.
- Review administrative account lists for unnecessary or shared privileged accounts.
- Inspect router administration logs for unexpected configuration or login activity.
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-20: 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 lookupExecution behavior lookup
The CVE wording references code or command execution, so execution technique review may help defensive triage. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2019-15957 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
- 7.2 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H1.25.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
7.2HighVector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- 20191106 Cisco Small Business Routers RV016, RV042, RV042G, RV082, RV320, and RV325 Command Injection 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 Input Validation
Improper Input Validation represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.