Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software AnyConnect SSL VPN Denial of Service Vulnerability
Noroxi assessment
Priority: Monitor (action score 30/100)
- The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
- Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.70% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 52.7% of all records.
- Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
- According to CISA the attack is automatable: targets can be found by mass scanning.
- According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.
Low priority for now. Update when a fix is released; follow the vendor's advisory.
Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it
Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS
A vulnerability in the implementation of the Datagram TLS (DTLS) protocol in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause high CPU utilization, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability is due to suboptimal processing that occurs when establishing a DTLS tunnel as part of an AnyConnect SSL VPN connection. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a steady stream of crafted DTLS traffic to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust resources on the affected VPN headend device. This could cause existing DTLS tunnels to stop passing traffic and prevent new DTLS tunnels from establishing, resulting in a DoS condition. Note: When the attack traffic stops, the device recovers gracefully.
- Published
- Apr 21, 2022
- Updated
- Aug 11, 2026
- EPSS
- 0.7% · 52th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-345
Report tools
Action score
30
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 30 / 40 · 7.5 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 0.7%
CISA SSVC decision
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- yes
- Technical impact
- partial
Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.
CNA vs NVD score
- NVD
- 7.5
- CNA · cisco
- 5.8
- 1.7 point gap
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:L
The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.
Get told when this record changes
- Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
- No public exploit code on record
- No fixed version yet
If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.
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Noroxi analysis
What does it mean in your environment?
The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.
We use this product, ask for helpAffected systems
Is your version affected?
Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| cisco | adaptive security appliance | cpe:2.3:a:cisco:adaptive_security_appliance |
| cisco | adaptive security appliance software | cpe:2.3:o:cisco:adaptive_security_appliance_software |
| cisco | asa 5505 | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:asa_5505 |
| cisco | asa 5512-x | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:asa_5512-x |
| cisco | asa 5515-x | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:asa_5515-x |
| cisco | asa 5525-x | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:asa_5525-x |
| cisco | asa 5545-x | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:asa_5545-x |
| cisco | asa 5555-x | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:asa_5555-x |
| cisco | asa 5580 | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:asa_5580 |
| cisco | asa 5585-x | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:asa_5585-x |
| cisco | asa for nexus 1000v | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:asa_for_nexus_1000v |
| cisco | secure firewall threat defense | cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_firewall_threat_defense |
and 17 more
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- cisco adaptive security appliance software9.17.0 and later · up to 9.17.1.9 inclusive
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.
Cisco Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
- n/aaffected
Same product
cisco: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2020-3572Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software and Firepower Threat Defense Software SSL/TLS Session Denial of Service Vulnerability35Monitor
- CVE-2020-3436Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software and Firepower Threat Defense Software Web Services File Upload Denial of Service Vulnerability35Monitor
- CVE-2020-3304Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software and Firepower Threat Defense Software Web Services Denial of Service Vulnerability35Monitor
Published before and after this one in the same product
- ← EarlierCVE-2021-40118Oct 27, 2021 · Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software and Firepower Threat Defense Software Web Services Denial of Service Vulnerabilities30Monitor
- ← EarlierCVE-2021-1573Jan 11, 2022 · Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software and Firepower Threat Defense Software Web Services Denial of Service Vulnerability30Monitor
- Later →CVE-2023-20107Mar 23, 2023 · Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software and Firepower Threat Defense Software Low-Entropy Keys Vulnerability30Monitor
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.
- No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- none
- Integrity
- none
- Availability
- high · the service can be disrupted
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- None
- Integrity impact
- None
- Availability impact
- High
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-345 · Insufficient Verification of Data AuthenticityCVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
nvd-primary
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)
- JSON Hijacking (aka JavaScript Hijacking)CAPEC-111likelihood: High · High
- Cache PoisoningCAPEC-141likelihood: High · High
- DNS Cache PoisoningCAPEC-142likelihood: High · High
- Content SpoofingCAPEC-148likelihood: Medium · Medium
- Spoofing of UDDI/ebXML MessagesCAPEC-218Medium
- Application API Message Manipulation via Man-in-the-MiddleCAPEC-384Low
- Transaction or Event Tampering via Application API ManipulationCAPEC-385Medium
- Application API Navigation RemappingCAPEC-386Medium
Change log
No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.
References
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.