Vulnerability in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software
CVE-2024-20481
A vulnerability in the Remote Access VPN (RAVPN) service of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) of the RAVPN service. This vulnerability is due to resource exhaustion. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a large number of VPN authentication requests to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust resources, resulting in a DoS of the RAVPN service on the affected device. Depending on the impact of the attack, a reload of the device may be required to restore the RAVPN service. Services that are not related to VPN are not affected. Cisco Talos discussed these attacks in the blog post Large-scale brute-force activity targeting VPNs, SSH services with commonly used login credentials.
EPSS: 0.159 (96.6th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 5.8 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:L.
Affected products
- Cisco Adaptive_security_appliance_software — versions 9.8.1, 9.8.1.5, 9.8.1.7
- Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (Asa) Software — versions 9.8.1, 9.8.1.5, 9.8.1.7
- Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software — versions 6.2.3, 6.2.3.1, 6.2.3.2
- Cisco Firepower_threat_defense_software — versions 6.2.3, 6.2.3.1, 6.2.3.2
- Cisco Secure_firewall_threat_defense — versions 6.2.3, 6.2.3.1, 6.2.3.2
Weakness classification (CWE)
CISA KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities)
This CVE is on the CISA KEV catalog, added on . CISA KEV inclusion means CISA has confirmed in-the-wild exploitation; US federal agencies are required to remediate within a published due date.
BOD 22-01 due date: .
Required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Public proof-of-concept exploits
References
- psirt@cisco.com (Vendor Advisory)
- 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 (US Government Resource)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2024-20481?
- CVE-2024-20481 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software, classified under Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime. CVSS score: 5.8/10. Published 2024-10-23.
- How severe is CVE-2024-20481?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.8 out of 10.
- Is CVE-2024-20481 known to be exploited?
- Yes. CVE-2024-20481 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2024-10-24), indicating it is being actively exploited. 1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.