Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This Cisco ASA issue affects Smart Tunnel functionality. An authenticated local attacker could gain root-level privileges or load a malicious library during tunnel setup. The bundle rates it medium, but successful exploitation could fully compromise confidentiality, integrity, and availability on the affected context.
Executive priority
Treat this as a moderate-priority remote access platform risk. It is not cited as actively exploited, but successful exploitation could lead to root-level control, so affected ASA environments should be identified and remediated through Cisco guidance.
Technical view
CVE-2019-1944 is a CWE-20 input validation issue in Cisco ASA Software Smart Tunnel handling. The CVSS v3.0 score is 6.7 with local attack vector, high complexity, low privileges, and required user interaction. Impact is high across confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to environments running Cisco ASA Software with Smart Tunnel functionality. The source bundle does not provide affected or fixed version ranges, so version-level exposure must be checked against Cisco's advisory.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not indicate active exploitation, and the CVE is not marked in KEV. Exploitation requires an authenticated local attacker, user interaction, and timing around tunnel establishment, which reduces likelihood but not impact.
Researcher notes
The public bundle lacks affected version and fix detail beyond the Cisco advisory reference. Validation should focus on Smart Tunnel usage, ASA release mapping, and whether local authenticated user scenarios exist in the organization.
Mitigation direction
- Review Cisco advisory for affected and fixed ASA releases.
- Inventory ASA deployments that use Smart Tunnel functionality.
- Prioritize remediation where Smart Tunnel is enabled for remote access users.
- Restrict Smart Tunnel access to trusted authenticated users while assessing exposure.
- Track vendor guidance instead of relying on unsupported workarounds.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether Cisco ASA Software is deployed in the environment.
- Determine whether Smart Tunnel functionality is enabled or used.
- Compare deployed ASA versions with Cisco's advisory details.
- Review VPN and endpoint logs for unusual tunnel setup behavior.
- Document systems where version exposure cannot be confirmed.
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 lookupCVE-2019-1944 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:H/PR:L/UI:R/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:H/PR:L/UI:R/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:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- 20190807 Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Smart Tunnel VulnerabilitiesCVE 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.