Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
A logged-in remote user can repeatedly open and abruptly end management sessions to Cisco NX-OS devices, leaving management shell processes in memory. Over time, memory can be exhausted, causing crashes or unstable device behavior. This is a service availability risk, not a data theft issue based on the provided sources.
Executive priority
Treat as high priority for network infrastructure with exposed or widely accessible management planes. The business risk is disruption to core switching or routing services if memory exhaustion causes crashes or unstable behavior.
Technical view
CVE-2019-1965 affects Cisco NX-OS Software VSH session management. Improper cleanup after remote management disconnection can leave VSH processes undeleted, consuming memory until system-wide denial of service occurs. CVSS v3.0 is 7.7 with network attack vector, low complexity, low privileges, no user interaction, and high availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on Cisco NX-OS devices where remote management is reachable and an attacker has valid credentials. The source bundle does not specify affected versions, so teams must use Cisco's advisory to map exact exposure.
Exploitation context
The CVE requires authenticated remote access and repeated abnormal session termination. The source bundle does not identify public exploitation, exploit code, or CISA KEV listing, so active exploitation should not be assumed from these sources.
Researcher notes
The provided evidence supports CWE-400 resource exhaustion through VSH process cleanup failure. Affected version detail and remediation specifics are not included in the bundle beyond the Cisco advisory reference. Validation should stay defensive: exposure mapping, management-plane reachability, logs, and memory health.
Mitigation direction
- Review the Cisco advisory for affected releases and fixed software guidance.
- Restrict remote management access to trusted administrative networks and accounts.
- Audit NX-OS administrator credentials and remove unnecessary accounts.
- Monitor memory usage and lingering VSH processes on managed devices.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Cisco NX-OS devices and compare versions against Cisco advisory guidance.
- Confirm remote management interfaces are not broadly reachable.
- Review logs for repeated abnormal management session terminations by authenticated users.
- Check device health for memory pressure or accumulating VSH processes.
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-400: 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-2019-1965 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
- High
- CVSS
- 7.7 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/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:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H3.14Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
7.7HighVector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- 20190828 Cisco NX-OS Software Remote Management Memory Leak Denial of Service 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.
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.