Adaptive Security Appliance SoftwareOperating system · Cisco
CVE-2012-0378
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 · uneditedCisco Adaptive Security Appliances (ASA) 5500 series devices with software 8.0 through 8.4 allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (connection limit exceeded) by triggering a large number of stale connections that result in an incorrect value for an MPF connection count, aka Bug ID CSCtv19854.
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 running software versions 8.0 through 8.4 contain a flaw in the Modular Policy Framework (MPF) connection counting mechanism. Remote attackers can trigger a large number of stale connections, causing the MPF connection count to become incorrect and exceed the connection limit, resulting in denial of service.
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
= 8.0= 8.0\(2\)= 8.0\(3\)= 8.0\(4\)= 8.0\(5\)= 8.0.2= 8.0.3= 8.0.4= 8.0.5= 8.1= 8.2\(1\)= 8.2\(2\)
5500 Series Adaptive Security ApplianceHardware / 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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Identify the ASA modelExecute 'show version' on the ASA CLI and locate the hardware model identification lineAffected if The device is NOT a Cisco ASA 5500 series model
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Check the ASA software versionExecute 'show version' and locate the 'Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software' version numberAffected if The software version falls within 8.0 through 8.4 (including the specific versions 8.0, 8.0(2), 8.0(3), 8.0(4), 8.0(5), 8.0.2, 8.0.3, 8.0.4, 8.0.5, 8.1, 8.2(1), 8.2(2)) or is an 8.3.x or 8.4.x version
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Verify MPF configuration is in useExecute 'show run' and search for 'policy-map' or 'class-map' configuration statements which define Modular Policy Framework policiesAffected if No policy-map or class-map MPF policies are configured (the vulnerability requires MPF to be active)
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Inspect connection count behaviorExecute 'show conn count' over time to observe if connection counts are increasing unexpectedly or failing to decrement properlyAffected if Connection counts remain elevated after traffic ceases or exceed configured limits unexpectedly
A user is affected if they are running Cisco ASA 5500 series hardware with software versions 8.0-8.4 and have Modular Policy Framework policies configured, leading to stale connection accumulation.
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 8.4 (or apply relevant Cisco security patch) that addresses Bug ID CSCtv19854. Additionally, implement connection timeout and service policy configurations to limit stale connections.
Fix this in Adaptive Security Appliance Software
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-0378 — 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-2012-0378 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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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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