Vulnerability in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (Asa) Software
CVE-2025-20238
A vulnerability in Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system with root-level privileges. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid administrative credentials. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation of commands that are supplied by the user. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to a device and submitting crafted input for specific commands. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute commands on the underlying operating system as root.
EPSS: 0.001 (4.1th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 6.0 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N.
Affected products
- 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
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2025-20238?
- CVE-2025-20238 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (Asa) Software, classified under CWE-1244. CVSS score: 6.0/10. Published 2025-08-14.
- How severe is CVE-2025-20238?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.0 out of 10.