Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2019-12181

A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in SolarWinds Serv-U before 15.1.7 for Linux.

Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 8.8, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction requiring only low-level privileges . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 2 products from solarwinds, from solarwinds organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

First disclosed in 2019, this vulnerability was reported during a period defined by widespread IoT adoption challenges, mobile security concerns, and the emergence of advanced persistent threat (APT) techniques. Contemporary mitigation strategies focused on secure development practices and third-party component vetting.

Published

2019-06-17T16:15:12.153

Last Modified

2024-11-21T04:22:22.930

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 8.8 (HIGH)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P

Access Vector: NETWORK
Access Complexity: LOW
Authentication: SINGLE
Confidentiality Impact: PARTIAL
Integrity Impact: PARTIAL
Availability Impact: PARTIAL

Exploitability Score

8.0

Impact Score

6.4

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-78

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	solarwinds	serv-u_ftp_server	< 15.1.7	Yes
Application	solarwinds	serv-u_mft_server	< 15.1.7	Yes

References

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/153333/Serv-U-FTP-Server-15.1.6-Privilege-Escalation.html Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/153505/Serv-U-FTP-Server-prepareinstallation-Privilege-Escalation.html Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
https://blog.vastart.dev/2019/06/cve-2019-12181-serv-u-exploit-writeup.html Broken Link ([email protected])
https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/servu/Content/Release_Notes/Servu_15-1-7_release_notes.htm Release Notes, Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
https://support.solarwinds.com/SuccessCenter/s/article/Serv-U-Potential-elevation-of-privileges-on-Linux-systems Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/153333/Serv-U-FTP-Server-15.1.6-Privilege-Escalation.html Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/153505/Serv-U-FTP-Server-prepareinstallation-Privilege-Escalation.html Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://blog.vastart.dev/2019/06/cve-2019-12181-serv-u-exploit-writeup.html Broken Link (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/servu/Content/Release_Notes/Servu_15-1-7_release_notes.htm Release Notes, Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://support.solarwinds.com/SuccessCenter/s/article/Serv-U-Potential-elevation-of-privileges-on-Linux-systems Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For solarwinds's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.