Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Cisco Firepower Management Center could let a remote unauthenticated attacker become an administrator through its web management interface when LDAP authentication responses are mishandled. Successful compromise could allow full control of a security management platform, creating serious confidentiality, integrity, and availability risk.
Executive priority
High urgency. This affects a security control management system and can grant administrative access without credentials. Prioritize confirmation and remediation ahead of routine patching, especially for exposed management interfaces.
Technical view
CVE-2019-16028 is an authentication bypass in Cisco FMC tied to improper handling of LDAP responses from an external authentication server. The CVSS 3.0 score is 9.8, with network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges, no user interaction, and high impact across CIA.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where Cisco FMC is deployed with external LDAP authentication and the web-based management interface is reachable by attackers. The source bundle does not provide affected version ranges, so teams must verify against Cisco’s advisory and their own FMC inventory.
Exploitation context
The provided bundle does not indicate CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. It does state an unauthenticated remote attacker could exploit the flaw with crafted HTTP requests to gain administrative access. Do not assume exploitation without telemetry or cited evidence.
Researcher notes
The evidence supports critical severity and remote unauthenticated administrative impact. The bundle lacks affected version detail, fixed release detail, and exploitation evidence. Validation should focus on product presence, LDAP authentication use, reachable management interfaces, and Cisco advisory mapping.
Mitigation direction
- Review Cisco’s advisory for affected releases and fixed software guidance.
- Inventory all Cisco FMC instances and their LDAP authentication configuration.
- Restrict FMC management interface access to trusted administrative networks.
- Prioritize remediation for internet-reachable or broadly reachable management interfaces.
- Monitor FMC administrative activity for unexpected logins or configuration changes.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether Cisco FMC is present in the environment.
- Check whether FMC uses external LDAP authentication.
- Verify current FMC software against Cisco advisory guidance.
- Review network exposure of the FMC web management interface.
- Inspect logs for unusual administrative sessions or changes.
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-287: Credential and account abuse lookup
Authentication and credential weaknesses can make valid-account abuse and credential telemetry useful review starting points. 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 lookupCredential and access behavior lookup
The CVE wording references authentication or credential exposure, so valid-account and credential-access review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2019-16028 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
- Critical
- CVSS
- 9.8 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H3.95.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
9.8CriticalVector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- 20200122 Cisco Firepower Management Center Lightweight Directory Access Protocol Authentication Bypass 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 Authentication
Improper Authentication represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.