Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2019-1971 affects Cisco Enterprise NFV Infrastructure Software. An attacker reaching the NFVIS web portal could abuse authentication input handling to run operating system commands as root. That creates high business risk for affected network virtualization infrastructure, but the provided sources do not identify active exploitation or exact affected versions.
Executive priority
Treat as high priority for teams operating Cisco NFVIS. Root-level command execution on network virtualization infrastructure can affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Urgency is highest for exposed management portals, but exact scope requires Cisco advisory review because affected versions are not specified in the bundle.
Technical view
The issue is a command injection flaw in the Cisco NFVIS web portal framework caused by insufficient input validation. It is remotely reachable, requires no authentication or user interaction, and could execute arbitrary commands with root privileges. CVSS v3.0 is 8.1 with high attack complexity and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to environments running Cisco Enterprise NFV Infrastructure Software, especially where the web portal is reachable from untrusted networks. The bundle lists versions as unspecified, so teams must confirm affected releases against Cisco’s advisory and their asset inventory.
Exploitation context
The bundle does not support claims of active exploitation; KEV is false. Exploitation is described as unauthenticated and remote through malicious input during web portal authentication, but with high attack complexity. No public exploit status is established in the provided evidence.
Researcher notes
Evidence supports CWE-78 command injection in the NFVIS web portal authentication path. Key gaps are exact affected versions, fixed releases, mitigations, and exploit-in-the-wild status. Avoid assuming broader Cisco product exposure from this CVE alone.
Mitigation direction
- Review Cisco’s advisory for affected and fixed NFVIS release guidance.
- Upgrade or remediate only according to Cisco’s published instructions.
- Restrict unnecessary access to the NFVIS web portal while assessing exposure.
- Prioritize assets reachable from internet or untrusted network segments.
Validation and detection
- Identify all Cisco NFVIS deployments and management portal endpoints.
- Compare deployed versions against Cisco’s advisory guidance.
- Confirm whether NFVIS web portals are reachable from untrusted networks.
- Review authentication and system logs for unusual failures or command-related anomalies.
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-78: Command execution behavior lookup
Command injection weaknesses can lead defenders to review execution techniques and command interpreter telemetry. 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 lookupExecution behavior lookup
The CVE wording references code or command execution, so execution technique review may help defensive triage. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2019-1971 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
- 8.1 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/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:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H2.25.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
8.1HighVector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- 20190807 Cisco Enterprise NFV Infrastructure Software Command Injection 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 Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')
Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection') represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.