Cyber Resilience

CVE-2019-12630

RCE in Cisco Security Manager ≤ 4.18

Published
02 October 2019
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.66 99.2th percentile
Risk Priority 97 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2019-12630 is a critical-severity Improper Input Validation (CWE-20) vulnerability in Cisco Security Manager. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, ranked in the top 0.8% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability in the Java deserialization function used by Cisco Security Manager could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insecure deserialization of user-supplied content by the affected software.…

more

An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malicious serialized Java object to a specific listener on an affected system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the device with the privileges of casuser.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

Likely ATT&CK TechniquesAI

Techniques this vulnerability likely enables, inferred from its description, weakness type, and attributed-actor tradecraft. Confidence is per-technique.

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Accessconfidence: HIGH
Unauthenticated remote attacker sends malicious serialized Java object to a listener, enabling arbitrary command execution on a public-facing Cisco Security Manager application.
T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Executionconfidence: HIGH
Successful exploitation results in execution of arbitrary commands on the target system.
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalationconfidence: HIGH
Arbitrary commands execute with the privileges of the casuser account, providing privilege escalation from an unauthenticated context.
inferred from description + CWE · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2020-27131Same product: Cisco Security Manager
CVE-2018-0147Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2025-20146Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2024-20253Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2025-20276Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2020-3161Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2024-20327Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2025-20142Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2025-20124Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2024-20464Same vendor: Cisco

Affected Assets

cisco
security manager
≤ 4.18

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 6 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-20 CWE-502

Security testing and evaluation at multiple SDLC stages directly detects missing or flawed input validation, with the required remediation process ensuring fixes are applied.

addresses: CWE-20 CWE-502

Directly implements checks on information inputs to reject invalid data before processing.

addresses: CWE-502

Penetration testing supplies malicious serialized objects, detecting unsafe deserialization and supporting corrective actions.

addresses: CWE-20

Security testing and developer training directly verify and enforce proper input validation, reducing exploitability of injection and malformed-data weaknesses.

addresses: CWE-502

Untrusted serialized data can be deserialized and observed inside the chamber, blocking gadget-chain exploitation outside the sandbox.

addresses: CWE-502

Identifies and blocks malicious code introduced through deserialization of untrusted data at system boundaries.

addresses: CWE-502

Integrity verification of serialized information can detect tampering before deserialization occurs.

addresses: CWE-20

Spam protection mechanisms perform filtering and detection on inbound/outbound messages, directly compensating for missing or weak input validation of unsolicited content.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require and enforce input validation during development.

PR.PS-02 none match
prevents

PR.PS-02 addresses only post-deployment updates/patching and cannot prevent introduction of unsafe deserialization code, yet it can remediate some instances when the flaw exists in outdated libraries or components.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

detects

Testing against a defined set of requirements and using code review plus vulnerability scanning forces validation of inputs and handling of unanticipated conditions, reducing the chance that malformed data will be accepted.

prevents

Secure-coding guidelines and mandatory security testing (including code scans) compel developers to validate and sanitize inputs at design and implementation time, lowering the incidence of malformed or malicious data reaching downstream components.

prevents

Mandating input controls that include integrity checks and input validation ensures that untrusted data is examined before use, blocking the root cause of many injection and malformed-data weaknesses.

prevents

Security-by-design principles explicitly call for data validation and sanitization at every layer, reducing the chance that malformed or malicious input will be processed without scrutiny.

prevents

Requiring language-specific secure coding standards, peer review, SAST and documented mitigation of common programming errors forces validation of all inputs before they are trusted.

detects

Regular scanning of third-party libraries and timely patching reduce the likelihood that unsafe deserialization vulnerabilities remain active.

References