Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This is a privilege-escalation flaw in Cisco DNA Spaces Connector. A user who already has local authenticated access and high privileges could gain root-level control of the underlying operating system. Business urgency depends on whether the connector is deployed and who can access it locally.
Executive priority
Treat as a targeted administrative-plane risk. Prioritize remediation where Cisco DNA Spaces Connector supports critical facilities, has many administrators, or sits in environments where local accounts may be shared or weakly controlled.
Technical view
Cisco describes insufficient restrictions during execution of an affected CLI command. A local authenticated attacker with high privileges could modify sensitive files, elevate to root, and run arbitrary operating-system commands. CVSS 3.0 is 6.7 with local attack vector and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely limited to organizations running Cisco DNA Spaces Connector with local administrative or high-privilege users. The provided sources do not identify specific affected versions, CPEs, or internet-facing attack conditions.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not report active exploitation, and the CVE is not marked KEV. Exploitation requires local access and high privileges, which limits scale but raises insider, compromised-admin, and shared-administration risks.
Researcher notes
Evidence is narrow but clear on impact: local authenticated high-privilege access can become root through an affected CLI command. The prompt does not provide fixed versions, proof-of-concept status, or detailed workaround text, so validation should stay vendor-advisory driven.
Mitigation direction
- Check Cisco advisory for affected and fixed release guidance.
- Apply vendor-recommended updates or workarounds where applicable.
- Restrict local connector access to trusted administrators.
- Review and remove unnecessary high-privilege local accounts.
- Monitor for unexpected sensitive-file changes on connector hosts.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Cisco DNA Spaces Connector deployments.
- Compare installed connector versions against Cisco advisory guidance.
- Confirm who has local authenticated access to connector hosts.
- Review administrative access paths to the affected CLI.
- Check host and connector logs for unusual sensitive-file modifications.
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-264: Exact CWE lookup
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Open ATT&CK lookupPrivilege behavior lookup
The CVE wording references privilege impact, so privilege escalation and authorization behavior review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2019-15996 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
- Medium
- CVSS
- 6.7 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/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:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H0.85.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
6.7MediumVector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- 20191120 Cisco DNA Spaces: Connector Privilege Escalation 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.
Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls
Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.