Cisco Remote VPN vulnerability - 20231220002¶
Overview¶
A vulnerability in the remote access VPN feature of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct a brute force attack in an attempt to identify valid username and password combinations or an authenticated, remote attacker to establish a clientless SSL VPN session with an unauthorized user.
What is the vulnerability?¶
CVE-2023-20269 - CVSS v3.1 Base Score: 9.1
This vulnerability is due to improper separation of authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) between the remote access VPN feature and the HTTPS management and site-to-site VPN features. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by specifying a default connection profile/tunnel group while conducting a brute force attack or while establishing a clientless SSL VPN session using valid credentials. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to achieve one or both of the following:
- Identify valid credentials that could then be used to establish an unauthorized remote access VPN session.
- Establish a clientless SSL VPN session (only when running Cisco ASA Software Release 9.16 or earlier).
What is vulnerable?¶
- Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software
- Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
What has been observed?¶
The WASOC has been made aware of attempted explotation of this vulnerability on WA Government Entities infrastructure.
Recommendation¶
Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are workarounds that address this vulnerability. Customers can download the hot fixes from the Software Center
| CISCO FTD Software Release | Hot Fix Name |
|---|---|
| 7.0.6 | Cisco_FTD_Hotfix_EI-7.0.6.1-3.sh.REL.tar |
| 7.0.6 | Cisco_FTD_SSP_FP1K_Hotfix_EI-7.0.6.1-3.sh.REL.tar |
| 7.0.6 | Cisco_FTD_SSP_FP2K_Hotfix_EI-7.0.6.1-3.sh.REL.tar |
| 7.0.6 | Cisco_FTD_SSP_Hotfix_EI-7.0.6.1-3.sh.REL.tar |
| 7.2.5 | Cisco_FTD_Hotfix_BJ-7.2.5.1-1.sh.REL.tar |
| 7.2.5 | Cisco_FTD_SSP_FP1K_Hotfix_BJ-7.2.5.1-1.sh.REL.tar |
| 7.2.5 | Cisco_FTD_SSP_FP2K_Hotfix_BJ-7.2.5.1-1.sh.REL.tar |
| 7.2.5 | Cisco_FTD_SSP_FP3K_Hotfix_BJ-7.2.5.1-1.sh.REL.tar |
| 7.2.5 | Cisco_FTD_SSP_Hotfix_BJ-7.2.5.1-1.sh.REL.tar |
The WA SOC recommends ensuring latest firmware updates are applied across all applicable devices as per their vendors instructions. (refer Patch Management).