Privilege escalation in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance and Firepower Threat Defense

Published: 2024-10-24

Risk	Low
Patch available	YES
Number of vulnerabilities	1
CVE-ID	CVE-2024-20485
CWE-ID	CWE-94
Exploitation vector	Local
Public exploit	N/A
Vulnerable software Subscribe	Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Hardware solutions / Security hardware applicances Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Hardware solutions / Security hardware applicances
Vendor	Cisco Systems, Inc

Security Bulletin

This security bulletin contains one low risk vulnerability.

1) Code Injection

EUVDB-ID: #VU99312

Risk: Low

CVSSv3.1: 5.8 [CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2024-20485

CWE-ID: CWE-94 - Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a local user to escalate privileges on the system.

The vulnerability exists due to improper validation of a specific file when it is read from system flash memory in the VPN web server. A local user can restore a specially crafted backup file on the affected device and execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges.

Mitigation

Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD): 7.0.0 - 7.0.6.2

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA): 9.8 - 9.20.2.10

CPE2.3

External links

http://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-asaftd-persist-lce-vU3ekMJ3
http://bst.cloudapps.cisco.com/bugsearch/bug/CSCwj06675

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.