Adaptive Security Appliance SoftwareOperating system · Cisco
CVE-2010-4688
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 the SIP inspection feature on Cisco Adaptive Security Appliances (ASA) 5500 series devices with software before 8.3(2) allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (device crash) by making many SIP calls, aka Bug ID CSCte20030.
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 confidenceThis is a denial-of-service vulnerability in the SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) inspection feature of Cisco ASA 5500 series security appliances. Remote attackers can trigger the vulnerability by sending many SIP calls to the device, causing it to crash and become unavailable. The vulnerability affects software versions prior to 8.3(2).
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 SoftwareOperating system
<= 8.3\(1\)= 7.0= 7.0\(0\)= 7.0\(2\)= 7.0\(4\)= 7.0\(5\)= 7.0\(5.2\)= 7.0\(6.7\)= 7.0.1= 7.0.1.4= 7.0.2= 7.0.4
5500 Series Adaptive Security ApplianceHardware / appliance
all versions
Asa 5500Hardware / appliance
all versionsCVSS 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
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C
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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Determine the ASA software versionLog into the Cisco ASA CLI and run the command 'show version' to display the installed software version. Look for the version number in the output.Affected if The version displayed is earlier than 8.3(2), such as 7.0.x, 8.2.x, or 8.3(1).
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Confirm SIP inspection is enabledRun the command 'show running-config | include sip' or 'show service-policy | include sip' to check if SIP inspection is currently active on the device.Affected if SIP inspection is enabled (the output shows 'inspect sip' or a SIP inspection policy configured on an interface or global service policy).
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Verify the specific vulnerable versionCompare the full version string from 'show version' against the known affected versions: 7.0, 7.0(0), 7.0(2), 7.0(4), 7.0(5), 7.0(5.2), 7.0(6.7), 7.0.1, 7.0.1.4, 7.0.2, 7.0.4, 8.3(1), or any version prior to 8.3(2).Affected if The installed version exactly matches one of the listed vulnerable versions or is any release prior to 8.3(2).
A Cisco ASA 5500 device is affected if it runs software version 8.3(1) or earlier (including 7.0.x releases) AND has SIP inspection enabled, allowing remote attackers to crash the device via crafted SIP traffic.
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 version 8.3(2) or later to patch the vulnerability. If upgrading is not immediately possible, consider restricting SIP traffic or disabling SIP inspection if not required, while planning the upgrade.
Fix this in Adaptive Security Appliance Software
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-4688 — 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-2010-4688 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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