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CVE Record

CVE-2019-1840: Cisco Prime Network Registrar Denial of Service Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the DHCPv6 input packet processor of Cisco Prime Network Registrar could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to restart the server and cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on the affected system. The vulnerability is due to incomplete user-supplied input validation when a custom extension attempts to change a DHCPv6 packet received by the application. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending malformed DHCPv6 packets to the application. An exploit could allow the attacker to trigger a restart of the service which, if exploited repeatedly, might lead to a DoS condition. This vulnerability can only be exploited if the administrator of the server has previously installed custom extensions that attempt to modify the packet details before the packet has been processed. Note: Although the CVSS score matches a High SIR, this has been lowered to Medium because this condition will only affect an application that has customer-developed extensions that will attempt to modify packet parameters before the packet has been completely sanitized. If packet modification in a custom extension happens after the packet has been sanitized, the application will not be affected by this vulnerability. Software versions prior to 8.3(7) and 9.1(2) are affected.

HighCVSS 8.6Not KEV-listedUpdated
Glexia's Takemoderate

Analyst readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

CVE-2019-1840 can let a remote, unauthenticated attacker crash and restart Cisco Prime Network Registrar through malformed DHCPv6 traffic. Business risk is service disruption, not data theft. Exposure is narrower than the CVSS score suggests because Cisco says it only applies when custom extensions modify DHCPv6 packet details before sanitization.

Executive priority

Treat as a targeted availability risk. It deserves timely remediation where Cisco Prime Network Registrar supports critical address services, especially if custom DHCPv6 extensions are present. It is not currently supported as an actively exploited emergency from the provided sources.

Technical view

The flaw is incomplete input validation in the DHCPv6 input packet processor when a custom extension changes packet details before full processing. A malformed DHCPv6 packet can trigger service restart, and repeated triggering may cause denial of service. Cisco lists versions before 8.3(7) and 9.1(2) as affected.

Likely exposure

Most likely exposure is Cisco Prime Network Registrar deployments running versions earlier than 8.3(7) or 9.1(2) with customer-developed DHCPv6 custom extensions that modify packet parameters before sanitization. Systems without that extension behavior are not described as affected by Cisco.

Exploitation context

The CVE source describes remote, unauthenticated exploitation over DHCPv6, but only under the custom-extension condition. The bundle marks CISA KEV as false and provides no cited evidence of active exploitation or public exploit use.

Researcher notes

Key condition is the custom extension path, not every Cisco Prime Network Registrar deployment. The CVSS is 8.6 with availability impact, but Cisco lowered its SIR to Medium because exploitation depends on customer-developed extensions modifying packet parameters before sanitization.

Mitigation direction

  • Upgrade affected Cisco Prime Network Registrar systems to 8.3(7), 9.1(2), or later per Cisco guidance.
  • Review DHCPv6 custom extensions for pre-sanitization packet modification behavior.
  • Prioritize systems providing production DHCPv6 or other critical address services.
  • Restrict DHCPv6 service exposure to intended network segments where operationally feasible.
  • Monitor for unexpected Cisco Prime Network Registrar service restarts.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory Cisco Prime Network Registrar versions across production and backup systems.
  • Identify whether any customer-developed DHCPv6 custom extensions are installed.
  • Review extension behavior for packet modification before complete sanitization.
  • Check service logs for unexplained restarts or DHCPv6 packet-processing errors.
  • Confirm remediation status against Cisco advisory version guidance.
Prepared
Confidence
high
Sources
4

Based on public source material and reviewed before publication.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

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ATT&CK lookup starting points

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cwe · low confidence lookup

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cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2019-1840 mapping review

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
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

Official CVE source material

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.

1CVSS vectors
0Timeline events
0ADP providers
3Source links

CVSS vector scores

1 official score

We 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.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
8.6CVSS 3.0HighCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H3.94Primary CVE score

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.0 score

8.6High
CVSS 3.0 vector shape for CVE-2019-1840Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NoneRequired
Scope
ChangedUnchanged
Confidentiality Impact
HighLowNone
Integrity Impact
HighLowNone
Availability Impact
HighLowNone

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
CiscoCisco Prime Network Registrarunspecified, unspecifiedListed
Weakness

CWE details

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.

CWE-665 · source CWE mapping

Improper Initialization

Improper Initialization represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.