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CVE-2019-12649: Cisco IOS XE Software Digital Signature Verification Bypass Vulnerability

• Severity: medium (CVSS 6.7 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2019-09-25 · updated 2026-06-17
• Weakness: CWE-347

Description

A vulnerability in the Image Verification feature of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to install and boot a malicious software image or execute unsigned binaries on an affected device. The vulnerability exists because, under certain circumstances, an affected device can be configured to not verify the digital signatures of system image files during the boot process. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by abusing a specific feature that is part of the device boot process. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to install and boot a malicious software image or execute unsigned binaries on the targeted device.

Affected products

• Cisco IOS: 16.9.1
• Cisco IOS XE: 16.8(1)

References

• https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20190925-iosxe-digsig-bypass
• https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20190925-iosxe-digsig-bypass

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