Cisco IOS/IOS XE Hot Standby Router Protocol Subystem initialization

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Cisco IOS and IOS XE and classified as problematic. This affects an unknown part of the component Hot Standby Router Protocol Subystem. This manipulation causes initialization. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2019-1761. The attack can only be done within the local network. There is not any exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Cisco IOS and IOS XE (Router Operating System) (the affected version unknown). It has been declared as problematic. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown part of the component Hot Standby Router Protocol Subystem. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a initialization vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-665. The product does not initialize or incorrectly initializes a resource, which might leave the resource in an unexpected state when it is accessed or used. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality. The summary by CVE is:

A vulnerability in the Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) subsystem of Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to receive potentially sensitive information from an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient memory initialization. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by receiving HSRPv2 traffic from an adjacent HSRP member. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to receive potentially sensitive information from the adjacent device.

The bug was discovered 03/27/2019. The weakness was released 03/28/2019 as cisco-sa-20190327-ios-infoleak as confirmed advisory (Website). The advisory is shared at tools.cisco.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2019-1761 since 12/06/2018. The attack needs to be done within the local network. The exploitation doesn't need any form of authentication. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/11/2025).

The vulnerability was handled as a non-public zero-day exploit for at least 1 days. During that time the estimated underground price was around $5k-$25k. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 316406 (Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software Hot Standby Router Protocol Information Leak Vulnerability(cisco-sa-20190327-ios-infoleak)).

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

Entries connected to this vulnerability are available at VDB-132542 and VDB-132537. If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Productinfo

Type

• Router Operating System

Vendor

• Cisco

Name

• IOS
• IOS XE

License

• commercial

Website

• Vendor: https://www.cisco.com/

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If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

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