A vulnerability in the FTP server of the Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to log in to the
A vulnerability in the FTP server of the Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to log in to the FTP server of the device without a valid password. The attacker does need to have a valid username. The vulnerability is due to incorrect FTP user credential validation. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by using FTP to connect to the management IP address of the targeted device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to log in to the FTP server of the Cisco WSA without having a valid password. This vulnerability affects Cisco AsyncOS for WSA Software on both virtual and hardware appliances that are running any release of Cisco AsyncOS 10.5.1 for WSA Software. The device is vulnerable only if FTP is enabled on the management interface. FTP is disabled by default. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvf74281.
- Published
- Mar 8, 2018
- Updated
- Jun 16, 2026
- EPSS
- 1.8% · 78th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-287
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Report tools
Action score
23
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 22 / 40 · 5.6 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 1 / 30 · 1.8%
CISA SSVC decision
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- partial
Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.
Affected systems
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| cisco | asyncos | cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asyncos |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- cisco asyncos10.5.1-296
Versions reported by the vendor
Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (cisco). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.
n/a Cisco Web Security Appliance
- Cisco Web Security Applianceaffected
Same product
cisco: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2025-20393Cisco Secure Email Gateway and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager Remote Command Execution VulnerabilityKEV80Now
- CVE-2026-76461Cisco Secure Email Gateway SQL Injection VulnerabilityKEV77This week
- CVE-2022-20871Cisco Secure Web Appliance Privilege Escalation Vulnerability36Monitor
- CVE-2022-20868A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Email Security Appliance, Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager and Cisco Secure35Monitor
- CVE-2019-15956Cisco Web Security Appliance Unauthorized Device Reset Vulnerability35Monitor
- CVE-2018-15460Cisco Email Security Appliance URL Filtering Denial of Service Vulnerability35Monitor
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
No credits in the CNA record.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
- No account or password is required.
- No user action is required.
- Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- low · data can be read
- Integrity
- low · data or configuration can be modified
- Availability
- low · the service can be disrupted
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- High
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- Low
- Integrity impact
- Low
- Availability impact
- Low
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-287 · Improper AuthenticationCVSS vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
nvd-primary
Root cause
Authentication is added route by route instead of being enforced in one place. When a route added later bypasses the shared middleware, the session check never runs for it.
The bug in code
The whole CWE-287 classA representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.
Vulnerable
app.use("/admin", requireSession, adminRouter);
// Route added later skips the middlewareapp.post("/admin-api/config", updateConfig);Fixed
const admin = express.Router();admin.use(requireSession, requireRole("admin"));
admin.post("/config", updateConfig);app.use("/admin", admin);Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
Attack patterns (CAPEC)
- Authentication AbuseCAPEC-114Medium
- Authentication BypassCAPEC-115Medium
- Identity SpoofingCAPEC-151likelihood: Medium · Medium
- Fake the Source of DataCAPEC-194Medium
- Exploiting Trust in ClientCAPEC-22likelihood: High · High
- Utilizing REST's Trust in the System Resource to Obtain Sensitive DataCAPEC-57likelihood: Medium · Very High
- Session HijackingCAPEC-593likelihood: High · Very High
- Token ImpersonationCAPEC-633Medium
ATT&CK techniques
Noroxi analysis
No Noroxi analysis for this record yet
We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.
We use this product, ask for helpChange log
No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.
References
- www.securityfocus.com/bid/103407
- www.securitytracker.com/id/1040464
- tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20180307-wsa
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.