Threats / Sonatype / CVE-2019-7238
CVE-2019-7238
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Sonatype Nexus Repository Manager vulnerability
Sonatype Nexus Repository Manager before 3.15.0 contains an incorrect access control vulnerability enabling remote code execution.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
An access control flaw in Nexus Repository Manager allows unauthenticated or unauthorized attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected systems. The high EPSS score and active exploitation in the wild indicate immediate risk to unpatched deployments.
CISA KEV Yes · 2021-12-104EPSS 0.76526 (verify live)5Exploit Weaponized · public PoC6CVSS 9.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Fully weaponized — public exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
889 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-12-10).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.76526 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 9.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Sonatype, Nexus Repository Manager. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 995 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
Public exploit available
Public exploit tooling is catalogued for this CVE (a public proof-of-concept / detection template). Catalog entries: nuclei template. We link the catalog page(s) only — no payload or code is hosted or restated here.Link, never host — the catalog page is the source; basicsecurity.net does not redistribute payloads.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I identify that Nexus Repository Manager enforces insufficient access controls on a critical endpoint or function.
Business
Attackers gain unauthorized access to the artifact repository, a central component of the software supply chain.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I exploit the access control bypass to execute arbitrary code on the Nexus server.
Business
The organization loses control of its repository infrastructure and all stored artifacts become compromised.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I inject malicious code into stored artifacts or modify build pipelines connected to the repository.
Business
Downstream applications and customers receive compromised software, creating widespread supply chain contamination.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05