Adaptive Security Appliance SoftwareOperating system · Cisco
CVE-2016-1385
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 · uneditedThe XML parser in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software through 9.5.2 allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (instability, memory consumption, or device reload) by leveraging (1) administrative access or (2) Clientless SSL VPN access to provide a crafted XML document, aka Bug ID CSCut14209.
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 confidenceThe XML parser in Cisco ASA Software through version 9.5.2 contains a denial of service vulnerability. Authenticated users with either administrative access or Clientless SSL VPN access can send a specially crafted XML document that causes the device to consume excessive memory, become unstable, or reload unexpectedly.
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
= 8.4.0= 8.4.1= 8.4.1.3= 8.4.1.11= 8.4.2= 8.4.2.1= 8.4.2.8= 8.4.3= 8.4.3.8= 8.4.3.9= 8.4.4= 8.4.4.1CVSS 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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed ASA software versionRun the command 'show version' on the ASA CLI to retrieve the currently installed software version numberAffected if The displayed version matches any of the affected versions listed (8.4.0 through 8.4.4.1 series)
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Confirm administrative access is enabledRun 'show running-config http server' or 'show running-config telnet/ssh' to check if remote management access is configuredAffected if Administrative access (HTTP, SSH, or Telnet) is enabled, allowing authenticated users to send XML requests to the device
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Verify Clientless SSL VPN is configuredRun 'show vpn-sessiondb' or 'show running-config webvpn' to check for active or configured Clientless SSL VPN contextsAffected if Clientless SSL VPN is enabled, providing an attack vector for authenticated VPN users to submit crafted XML documents
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Check device memory utilizationRun 'show memory' to observe current memory usage patternsAffected if Memory consumption is abnormally high or the device has experienced unexpected reloads without known cause
A device is affected if it runs Cisco ASA Software version 8.4.x through 8.4.4.1 and has either administrative management access or Clientless SSL VPN enabled, allowing authenticated users to submit XML documents that trigger the DoS condition.
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 9.5.3 or later. Until upgrade is possible, restrict administrative and Clientless SSL VPN access to trusted users only and monitor for signs of device instability.
Fix this in Adaptive Security Appliance Software
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 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 $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-1385 — 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-2016-1385 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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