CVE-2024-20481: Cisco ASA and FTD Denial-of-Service Vulnerability
Cisco · Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) · NVD published n/a · posted 2024-10-24 · last modified n/a
What it is
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) contain a missing release of resource after effective lifetime vulnerability that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial-of-service (DoS) of the RAVPN service.
| Weakness | CWE-772 |
|---|---|
| CISA due date | 2024-11-14 (for US federal agencies under BOD; a good deadline for everyone) |
| ATT&CK tactics | Impact |
Exploitation evidence
First exploit evidence seen: 2024-10-24 (earliest date across the sources below).
Exploited in the wild
- CISA KEV: listed since 2024-10-24. Source
Sources: CISA KEV.
Defend the Chain
The attack chain for CVE-2024-20481 laid across the MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise tactics. Solid cards come from the MITRE CTID KEV mappings; dashed cards are inferred by CVERadar from the CWE or description. Correct defences are real ATT&CK mitigations for that technique.
Pick a red technique card on the board, then choose the defence that stops it.
Defend against T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Inferred
Inferred from description keywords
How to fix it
CISA required action
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. (source: CISA KEV)
Fixed versions
NVD does not list a fixed version for this CVE. Use the vendor advisory below.
Derived from the NVD CPE configuration (versionEndExcluding / versionEndIncluding). Always confirm with the vendor advisory.
Vendor advisories and patches
- https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-asaftd-bf-dos-vDZhLqrW (CISA KEV notes)
MITRE ATT&CK mitigations for this chain
- M1037 Filter Network Traffic (for T1499) : Leverage services provided by Content Delivery Networks (CDN) or providers specializing in DoS mitigations to filter traffic upstream from services. Filter boundary traffic by blocking source addresses sourcing the attack, blocking ports that are being targeted, or blocking protocols being used for transport. To defend
Detection Generic guidance
- Impact: Monitor service availability, unexpected encryption activity and mass file changes.
Response checklist Generic guidance
- Inventory: find every instance of the affected product and version (include internet-facing and forgotten ones).
- Patch or mitigate per the vendor advisory; if you cannot patch, remove internet exposure or apply the vendor workaround.
- Assume compromise if the system was exposed before patching: hunt for the indicators in the advisory and review logs back to the disclosure date.
- Rotate credentials and secrets stored on or used by the affected system if compromise cannot be ruled out.