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Adaptive Security Appliance SoftwareOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2016-1379

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-05-28
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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 9.0 through 9.5.1 mishandles IPsec error processing, which allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) via crafted (1) LAN-to-LAN or (2) Remote Access VPN tunnel packets, aka Bug ID CSCuv70576.

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 · moderate confidence

Cisco ASA Software versions 9.0 through 9.5.1 contain a flaw in IPsec error processing that can be triggered by remote authenticated users sending specially crafted LAN-to-LAN or Remote Access VPN tunnel packets. This causes excessive memory consumption on the ASA device, leading to denial of service conditions.

MitigationUpgrade Cisco ASA Software to a version beyond 9.5.1 (refer to Cisco's official advisory for exact fixed versions). If immediate upgrade is not possible, consider implementing rate limiting on VPN connections and monitoring memory utilization as a compensating control.

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:= 9.0.1= 9.0.2= 9.0.2.10= 9.0.3= 9.0.3.6= 9.0.3.8= 9.0.4= 9.0.4.1= 9.0.4.5= 9.0.4.7= 9.0.4.17= 9.0.4.20

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
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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. Determine ASA software version
    Log into the ASA CLI and run the command 'show version' to display the running software version. Alternatively, access ASDM and navigate to Monitoring > Properties > Version to view the version information.
    Affected if The installed version is any release from 9.0 through 9.5.1, including specific versions such as 9.0.1, 9.0.2, 9.0.2.10, 9.0.3, 9.0.3.6, 9.0.3.8, 9.0.4, 9.0.4.1, 9.0.4.5, 9.0.4.7, 9.0.4.17, and 9.0.4.20.
  2. Verify IPsec VPN is configured
    Run the command 'show vpn-sessiondb' in the ASA CLI to display active VPN sessions. Use 'show running-config crypto ipsec' to view IPsec crypto configuration. In ASDM, navigate to Configuration > VPN to inspect LAN-to-LAN and Remote Access VPN settings.
    Affected if The ASA has LAN-to-LAN (site-to-site) IPsec tunnels or Remote Access IPsec VPN tunnels actively configured or enabled.
  3. Inspect memory utilization
    Run the command 'show memory' in the ASA CLI to display current memory usage statistics. Monitor the 'Used' and 'Free' memory values, and track trends over time using 'show memory history' if available.
    Affected if Memory consumption is abnormally high or steadily increasing without corresponding traffic growth, which may indicate the vulnerability is being exploited.

You are affected if your Cisco ASA runs software version 9.0 through 9.5.1 and has LAN-to-LAN or Remote Access IPsec VPN tunnels configured, especially if abnormal memory consumption is observed.

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

Upgrade Cisco ASA Software to a version beyond 9.5.1 (refer to Cisco's official advisory for exact fixed versions). If immediate upgrade is not possible, consider implementing rate limiting on VPN connections and monitoring memory utilization as a compensating control.

Fix this in Adaptive Security Appliance Software Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
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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-2016-1379 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
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