CVE-2024-20481
Exploited in the wild. In CISA KEV since 2024‑10‑24. A vendor fix is available.
What to do
The vendor has published a fix. Version details are below where the sources state them.
What it is
From the CVE record
A vulnerability in the Remote Access VPN (RAVPN) service of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) of the RAVPN service. This vulnerability is due to resource exhaustion. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a large number of VPN authentication requests to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust resources, resulting in a DoS of the RAVPN service on the affected device. Depending on the impact of the attack, a reload of the device may be required to restore the RAVPN service. Services that are not related to VPN are not affected. Cisco Talos discussed these attacks in the blog post Large-scale brute-force activity targeting VPNs, SSH services with commonly used login credentials.
In plain language
No plain-language summary for this CVE yet.
Exploitation
Where each signal puts this CVE on the scale from published to confirmed exploited.
- CISA KEV
Listed as exploited in the wild since 2024-10-24.
US federal agencies must remediate by 2024-11-14.
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
- Public exploits
0 sources with a proof of concept or module.
Exploit links, PoCs and Metasploit modules after sign-in- EPSS
16% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the 97th percentile of scored CVEs.
Exploit Prediction Scoring System, FIRST.org. A probability, not a confirmation.
Lifecycle
9 events over 665 days, from the signal feeds we watch.
- Analysis publishedThe Firewall Crash Bug Cisco Has Now Shipped Twice: CVE-2026-20349 and Its 2024 Twin
- Patch availablerecord updated
- OpenVAS check added
- Patch availablerecord updated
- Added to CISA KEV
- Publishedweakness classified
Affected products
- Firepower Threat DefenseNetworking Infrastructure
- Adaptive Security ApplianceNetworking Infrastructure
- Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareNetworking Infrastructure
- Cisco Firepower Threat Defense SoftwareNetworking Infrastructure
- secure firewall threat defenseNetworking Infrastructure / router-switch
- adaptive security appliance softwareNetworking Infrastructure
Technical detail
CVSS 3.1 vector
Open in the CVSS calculatorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:L
Scored 5.8 by NVD.
How it is reached
- Attack Vector NetworkExploitable remotely over the network without any special conditions
- Attack Complexity LowNo special conditions — the attack can be reliably reproduced
- Privileges Required NoneNo authentication required — anyone can exploit this
- User Interaction NoneNo user interaction needed — fully automated exploitation
Scope
- Scope ChangedThe exploit can affect other components (e.g. sandbox escape, host compromise from VM)
Impact if exploited
- Confidentiality NoneNo confidentiality impact
- Integrity NoneNo integrity impact
- Availability LowReduced performance or intermittent disruption of service
Weaknesses
Sources
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