CVE-2019-1593: Cisco NX-OS Software Bash Shell Role-Based Access Control Bypass Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2019-03-06 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-264

Description

A vulnerability in the Bash shell implementation for Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to escalate their privilege level by executing commands authorized to other user roles. The attacker must authenticate with valid user credentials. The vulnerability is due to the incorrect implementation of a Bash shell command that allows role-based access control (RBAC) to be bypassed. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the device and entering a crafted command at the Bash prompt. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to escalate their privilege level by executing commands that should be restricted to other roles. For example, a dev-ops user could escalate their privilege level to admin with a successful exploit of this vulnerability.

Affected products

Cisco NX-OS: from 7.0\(3\)i5 before 7.0\(3\)i7\(4\); from 7.0\(3\)i4 before 7.0\(3\)i4\(9\); from 7.0\(3\) before 7.0\(3\)i7\(4\); from 7.0\(3\) before 7.0\(3\)f3\(5\); from 8.1 before 8.2\(3\); from 8.3 before 8.3\(1\) — fixed in 13.2\(4d\), 14.0\(1h\), 7.0\(3\)f3\(5\), 7.0\(3\)i4\(9\), 7.0\(3\)i7\(4\), 8.2\(3\)

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Cisco NX-OS 13.2\(4d\), 14.0\(1h\), 7.0\(3\)f3\(5\), 7.0\(3\)i4\(9\). Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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