Vulnerability Database

346,508

Total vulnerabilities in the database

CVE-2019-12664 — cisco / ios_xe

Improper Authentication

A vulnerability in the Dialer interface feature for ISDN connections in Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to pass IPv4 traffic through an ISDN channel prior to successful PPP authentication. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of the state of the PPP IP Control Protocol (IPCP). An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by making an ISDN call to an affected device and sending traffic through the ISDN channel prior to successful PPP authentication. Alternatively, an unauthenticated, remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending traffic through an affected device that is configured to exit via an ISDN connection for which both the Dialer interface and the Basic Rate Interface (BRI) have been configured, but the Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) password for PPP does not match the remote end. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to pass IPv4 traffic through an unauthenticated ISDN connection for a few seconds, from initial ISDN call setup until PPP authentication fails.

  • Published: Sep 25, 2019
  • Updated: Nov 9, 2025
  • CVE: CVE-2019-12664
  • Severity: High
  • Exploit:

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: High
  • Score: 7.5
  • AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

CVSS v2:

  • Severity: Medium
  • Score: 5
  • AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N

Frequently Asked Questions

A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.

A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.

Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.

Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.

SynScan combines attack surface monitoring and continuous security auditing to keep your inventory current, flag high-impact vulnerabilities early, and help you turn raw findings into a practical remediation plan.