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NVD / CVE Program· CNA cisco

CVE-2025-20238: A vulnerability in Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Software…

MediumCVSS 6.0 · v3.1—No exploit No fix recorded

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 24/100)

  • 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: 0.15% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. Administrator privileges are required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • 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 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.

Published
Aug 14, 2025
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
0.1% · 4th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

24

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
24 / 40 · 6.0 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.1%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
—
CNA · cisco
6.0
NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

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.

Follow CVE-2025-20238

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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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.

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Affected 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.

—

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

    • 9.8.1, 9.8.1.5, 9.8.1.7, 9.8.2, 9.8.2.8, 9.8.2.14, 9.8.2.15, 9.8.2.17, 9.8.2.20, 9.8.2.24, 9.8.2.26, 9.8.2.28 … (+28)affected

  • Cisco Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software

    • 6.2.3, 6.2.3.1, 6.2.3.2, 6.2.3.3, 6.2.3.4, 6.2.3.5, 6.2.3.6, 6.2.3.7, 6.2.3.8, 6.2.3.10, 6.2.3.11, 6.2.3.9 … (+28)affected

Same product

cisco: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2025-20263Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software and Firepower Threat Defense Software Web Services Buffer Overflow Denial of Service Vulnerability
    34Monitor
  • CVE-2025-20253Cisco IOS, IOS XE, Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance, and Secure Firewall Threat Defense Software IKEv2 Denial of Service Vulnerability
    34Monitor
  • CVE-2025-20251Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance and Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Software Authenticated Arbitrary File Deletion
    34Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2025-20219Aug 14, 2025 · Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance and Secure Firewall Threat Defense Software Access Control Bypass Vulnerability
    21Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2025-20237Aug 14, 2025 · A vulnerability in Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Software…
    24Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2025-20243Aug 14, 2025 · Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance and Secure Firewall Threat Defense Software Remote Access SSL VPN Denial of Service Vulnerability
    34Monitor

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.

Not on record for this CVE: EPSS history · patch commit or PR link · researcher credit · variant or chain candidate · public bounty program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
  • Administrator privileges are required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
none
Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
None

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-1244 · Internal Asset Exposed to Unsafe Debug Access Level or State

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

nvd-secondary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

References

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records