CVE-2019-1649: Cisco 15454-M-Wse-k9 Firmware

Medium severity, CVSS 6.7. EPSS: 0.6% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

A vulnerability in the logic that handles access control to one of the hardware components in Cisco's proprietary Secure Boot implementation could allow an authenticated, local attacker to write a modified firmware image to the component. This vulnerability affects multiple Cisco products that support hardware-based Secure Boot functionality. The vulnerability is due to an improper check on the area of code that manages on-premise updates to a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) part of the Secure Boot hardware implementation. An attacker with elevated privileges and access to the underlying operating system that is running on the affected device could exploit this vulnerability by writing a modified firmware image to the FPGA. A successful exploit could either cause the device to become unusable (and require a hardware replacement) or allow tampering with the Secure Boot verification process, which under some circumstances may allow the attacker to install and boot a malicious software image. An attacker will need to fulfill all the following conditions to attempt to exploit this vulnerability: Have privileged administrative access to the device. Be able to access the underlying operating system running on the device; this can be achieved either by using a supported, documented mechanism or by exploiting another vulnerability that would provide an attacker with such access. Develop or have access to a platform-specific exploit. An attacker attempting to exploit this vulnerability across multiple affected platforms would need to research each one of those platforms and then develop a platform-specific exploit. Although the research process could be reused across different platforms, an exploit developed for a given hardware platform is unlikely to work on a different hardware platform.

Affected products

  • Cisco 15454-M-Wse-k9 Firmware: before 11.1 (fixed in 11.1)
  • Cisco Analog Voice Network Interface Modules Firmware: any version
  • Cisco ASA 5500 Firmware: before 1.1.15 (fixed in 1.1.15)
  • Cisco Asr 1000 Series Firmware: any version
  • Cisco Asr 1001 Firmware: version 16.0.0 only
  • Cisco Catalyst 9800-40 Wireless Controller Firmware: affected versions not specified
  • Cisco Catalyst 9800-80 Wireless Controller Firmware: affected versions not specified
  • Cisco Encs 5100 Firmware: affected versions not specified
  • Cisco Encs 5400 Firmware: affected versions not specified
  • Cisco Firepower 2100 Firmware: before 2.6.1.134 (fixed in 2.6.1.134)
  • Cisco Firepower 4000 Firmware: before 1.0.18 (fixed in 1.0.18)
  • Cisco Firepower 9000 Firmware: before 1.0.18 (fixed in 1.0.18)
  • Cisco IC3000-k9 Firmware: before 1.0.2 (fixed in 1.0.2)
  • Cisco Industrial Security Appliances 3000 Firmware: before 1.0.05 (fixed in 1.0.05)
  • Cisco Integrated Services Router 4200 Firmware: before 1.1 (fixed in 1.1)
  • Cisco Integrated Services Router 4300 Firmware: before 1.1 (fixed in 1.1)
  • Cisco Integrated Services Router 4400 Firmware: before 1.1 (fixed in 1.1)
  • Cisco Integrated Services Router t1/e1 Voice And WAN Network Interface Modules Firmware: any version
  • Cisco IOS: before 15.6\(3\)m7 (fixed in 15.6\(3\)m7); from 15.7, up to and including 15.7\(3\)m5; from 15.8, before 15.8\(3\)m3 (fixed in 15.8\(3\)m3); from 15.9, before 15.9\(3\)m (fixed in 15.9\(3\)m); before 15.6\(3\)m6b (fixed in 15.6\(3\)m6b); from 15.7, up to and including 15.7\(3\)m4b; …
  • Cisco IOS XE: before 16.12.1 (fixed in 16.12.1); before 16.3.9 (fixed in 16.3.9); from 16.4.0, before 16.6.7 (fixed in 16.6.7); from 16.7.0, before 16.9.4 (fixed in 16.9.4); from 16.10.0, before 16.12.1 (fixed in 16.12.1); before 16.2.1 (fixed in 16.2.1); …
  • Cisco IOS XR: version 7.0.1 only; version 7.1.1 only
  • Cisco NCS2K-Mr-Mxp-k9 Firmware: before 11.1 (fixed in 11.1)
  • Cisco NX-OS: before 8.4.1 (fixed in 8.4.1); before 9.3\(2\) (fixed in 9.3\(2\))
  • Cisco Ons 15454 Mstp Firmware: before 11.1 (fixed in 11.1)
  • Cisco Sm-X-1t3/e3 Firmware: affected versions not specified
  • and 2 more

Published 2019-05-13. Last modified 2026-06-17.