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Adaptive Security Appliance SoftwareOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2013-5513

HIGH · 7.1 CVSS v2.0 Published 2013-10-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software 8.2.x before 8.2(5.46), 8.3.x before 8.3(2.39), 8.4.x before 8.4(7), 8.5.x before 8.5(1.18), 8.6.x before 8.6(1.12), 8.7.x before 8.7(1.7), 9.0.x before 9.0(3.3), and 9.1.x before 9.1(1.8), when the DNS ALPI engine is enabled for TCP, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (device reload) via crafted TCP DNS packets, aka Bug ID CSCug03975.

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 confidence

A denial of service vulnerability exists in the DNS Application Layer Protocol Inspection (ALPI) engine for TCP in Cisco ASA software. When DNS ALPI is enabled for TCP, specially crafted TCP DNS packets can trigger the vulnerability and cause the ASA device to reload, disrupting network services.

MitigationUpdate Cisco ASA software to a patched version (8.2(5.46), 8.3(2.39), 8.4(7), 8.5(1.18), 8.6(1.12), 8.7(1.7), 9.0(3.3), or 9.1(1.8) or later. Alternatively, disable the DNS ALPI engine for TCP if not required, as a temporary workaround.

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
Affected:= 8.2= 8.2\(1\)= 8.2\(2\)= 8.2\(3\)= 8.2\(3.9\)= 8.2\(4\)= 8.2\(4.1\)= 8.2\(4.4\)= 8.2\(5\)= 8.2\(5.35\)= 8.2\(5.38\)= 8.3\(1\)

CVSS 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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:M/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Cisco ASA device is in use
    Identify that the device is a Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) running ASA software, not another Cisco product like IOS, PIX, or FTD. Use 'show version' command to verify the device model and software type.
    Affected if Device is not a Cisco ASA appliance running ASA software
  2. Check ASA software version against affected releases
    Execute 'show version' on the ASA CLI to obtain the running software version. Compare it to the affected versions: 8.2, 8.2(1), 8.2(2), 8.2(3), 8.2(3.9), 8.2(4), 8.2(4.1), 8.2(4.4), 8.2(5), 8.2(5.35), 8.2(5.38), or 8.3(1).
    Affected if The installed version exactly matches one of the listed affected versions
  3. Verify DNS ALPI for TCP is enabled
    Use 'show running-config | include inspect dns' or 'show service-policy' to examine whether DNS inspection is configured. Then check if DNS ALPI for TCP is explicitly enabled via configuration commands such as 'policy-map type inspect dns preset_dns_map' with DNS application inspection for TCP enabled, or review the inspection configuration for TCP-based DNS traffic.
    Affected if DNS Application Layer Protocol Inspection (ALPI) is enabled for TCP traffic in the ASA configuration

The environment is affected only if it is a Cisco ASA device running one of the listed affected versions AND has DNS ALPI enabled for TCP traffic, making it vulnerable to a reload when specially crafted TCP DNS packets are received.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update Cisco ASA software to a patched version (8.2(5.46), 8.3(2.39), 8.4(7), 8.5(1.18), 8.6(1.12), 8.7(1.7), 9.0(3.3), or 9.1(1.8) or later. Alternatively, disable the DNS ALPI engine for TCP if not required, as a temporary workaround.

Fix this in Adaptive Security Appliance Software Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,300
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-5513 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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