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CVE Record

CVE-2019-1918: Cisco IOS XR Software Intermediate System–to–Intermediate System Denial of Service Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the implementation of Intermediate System–to–Intermediate System (IS–IS) routing protocol functionality in Cisco IOS XR Software could allow an unauthenticated attacker who is in the same IS-IS area to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to incorrect processing of IS–IS link-state protocol data units (PDUs). An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending specific link-state PDUs to an affected system to be processed. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause incorrect calculations used in the weighted remote shared risk link groups (SRLG) or in the IGP Flexible Algorithm. It could also cause tracebacks to the logs or potentially cause the receiving device to crash the IS–IS process, resulting in a DoS condition.

HighCVSS 7.4Not KEV-listedUpdated
Glexia's TakeAutomated analysishigh

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

CVE-2019-1918 is a Cisco IOS XR denial-of-service issue in IS-IS routing. An attacker inside the same IS-IS area could disrupt routing calculations, fill logs with tracebacks, or crash the IS-IS process, affecting network availability.

Executive priority

Treat as high priority for networks depending on Cisco IOS XR and IS-IS for core routing. The business risk is routing instability or outage, not data theft. Prioritize validation on backbone, service-provider, and high-availability environments.

Technical view

Cisco describes incorrect processing of IS-IS link-state PDUs in IOS XR Software. The issue can affect weighted remote SRLG or IGP Flexible Algorithm calculations and may crash the IS-IS process. CVSS 3.0 is 7.4 with adjacent attack vector, no privileges, no user interaction, and high availability impact.

Likely exposure

Exposure is most likely on Cisco IOS XR routers running IS-IS where an untrusted or compromised system can participate in the same IS-IS area. Affected versions are unspecified in the provided bundle.

Exploitation context

The bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or other evidence of active exploitation. Exploitation requires adjacency within the same IS-IS area, which limits internet-scale exposure but matters in carrier, backbone, and large enterprise routing domains.

Researcher notes

Evidence is limited to the CVE record and Cisco advisory reference in the bundle. The weakness is CWE-20 input validation, affecting IS-IS link-state PDU handling. Do not assume affected releases, fixes, or exploitation beyond the provided Cisco source.

Mitigation direction

  • Check Cisco’s advisory for affected and fixed IOS XR releases.
  • Upgrade or apply vendor-recommended remediation where applicable.
  • Restrict IS-IS participation to trusted routing devices only.
  • Review routing-domain segmentation and control-plane protections.
  • Monitor IOS XR logs for IS-IS tracebacks or process restarts.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory Cisco IOS XR devices running IS-IS.
  • Compare installed IOS XR versions against Cisco’s advisory.
  • Identify interfaces participating in each IS-IS area.
  • Review logs for IS-IS tracebacks, crashes, or unexplained restarts.
  • Confirm whether weighted remote SRLG or IGP Flexible Algorithm is in use.
Prepared
Confidence
high
Sources
3

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

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 · low confidence lookup

CWE-20: Exact CWE lookup

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cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2019-1918 mapping review

Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
High
CVSS
7.4 (3.0)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:A/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
2Source 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
7.4CVSS 3.0HighCVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H2.84Primary CVE score

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.0 score

7.4High
CVSS 3.0 vector shape for CVE-2019-1918Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:A/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
Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
CiscoCisco IOS XR SoftwareunspecifiedListed
Weakness

CWE details

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