Adaptive Security Appliance 5500Hardware / appliance · Cisco
CVE-2008-2736
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedUnspecified vulnerability in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) 5500 devices 8.0(3)15, 8.0(3)16, 8.1(1)4, and 8.1(1)5, when configured as a clientless SSL VPN endpoint, allows remote attackers to obtain usernames and passwords via unknown vectors, aka Bug ID CSCsq45636.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceCisco ASA 5500 series devices configured as clientless SSL VPN endpoints allow remote attackers to capture plaintext usernames and passwords through unspecified vectors. The vulnerability affects specific 8.0.x and 8.1.x builds and requires no authentication to exploit.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Adaptive Security Appliance 5500Hardware / appliance
= 8.0= 8.1CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:N/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the device modelRun 'show version' or 'show hardware' and confirm the device is a Cisco ASA 5500 series applianceAffected if Device is not an ASA 5500 series model
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Check the ASA software versionRun 'show version' and locate the 'Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software' version string (for example, 8.0(3)15 or 8.1(1)4)Affected if Version begins with 8.0 or 8.1 and the build number is equal to or lower than 8.0(3)16 or 8.1(1)5 respectively
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Verify clientless SSL VPN is enabledRun 'show run webvpn' or 'show webvpn' and confirm clientless SSL VPN (WebVPN) is active on at least one interfaceAffected if WebVPN/clientless SSL VPN is enabled and running
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Check WebVPN configuration for authentication settingsRun 'show run webvpn' and review whether any authentication server group or AAA settings are configured for the VPNAffected if No additional authentication controls beyond the VPN login are configured, making plaintext credential capture possible
The environment is affected if the device is an ASA 5500 series running clientless SSL VPN on software version 8.0(x) or 8.1(x) at or below the fixed build levels.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade Cisco ASA software to a version beyond 8.0(3)16/8.1(1)5, or apply the relevant vendor patch for CSCsq45636. If immediate patching is not feasible, consider restricting SSL VPN access to trusted IP ranges or enabling additional authentication controls.
Fix this in Adaptive Security Appliance 5500
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-2736 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2008-2736 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data