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Adaptive Security ApplianceApplication · Cisco

CVE-2019-12698

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-10-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.2.3.15 / 6.3.0.5 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
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
A vulnerability in the WebVPN feature of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause increased CPU utilization on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to excessive processing load for a specific WebVPN HTTP page request. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending multiple WebVPN HTTP page load requests for a specific URL. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to increase CPU load on the device, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition, which could cause traffic to be delayed through the device.

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

A vulnerability in the WebVPN feature of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to cause excessive CPU utilization by sending multiple HTTP page requests for a specific WebVPN URL. This results in a denial of service condition, causing traffic delays through the affected device.

MitigationApply the relevant Cisco security updates for ASA and FTD software. If patches are unavailable, consider disabling WebVPN if not required, or implement upstream rate limiting to reduce the impact of repeated requests.

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 ApplianceApplication
Affected:< 9.6.4.31
Adaptive Security Appliance SoftwareOperating system
Affected:>= 9.7, < 9.8.4.9>= 9.9, < 9.9.2.56>= 9.10, < 9.10.1.30>= 9.12, < 9.12.2.9>= 9.13, < 9.13.1
Secure Firewall Threat DefenseApplication
Affected:< 6.2.3.15>= 6.3.0, < 6.3.0.5>= 6.4.0, < 6.4.0.6

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Identify the installed Cisco ASA software version
    Run the command to display the ASA software version (for example, `show version` or check the system startup banner). Compare the version number to the affected ranges: < 9.6.4.31; >= 9.7 and < 9.8.4.9; >= 9.9 and < 9.9.2.56; >= 9.10 and < 9.10.1.30; >= 9.12 and < 9.12.2.9; >= 9.13 and < 9.13.1
    Affected if The installed version falls within any of the affected version ranges listed.
  2. Identify the installed Cisco FTD software version
    Run the command to display the FTD software version (for example, `show version` or check the system management interface). Compare the version number to the affected ranges: < 6.2.3.15; >= 6.3.0 and < 6.3.0.5; >= 6.4.0 and < 6.4.0.6
    Affected if The installed version falls within any of the affected version ranges listed.
  3. Determine if WebVPN is enabled on the ASA
    Check the ASA configuration for active WebVPN settings (for example, run `show run webvpn` or inspect the configuration file for webvpn-related commands). Look for any enabled WebVPN configurations such as `webvpn` or `enable` inside the webvpn context.
    Affected if WebVPN is actively configured and enabled on the device.
  4. Verify WebVPN is enabled on the FTD
    Check the FTD configuration through the management interface or CLI for WebVPN profiles or AnyConnect configurations that indicate WebVPN is active.
    Affected if WebVPN is actively configured and enabled on the device.

The system is affected if it runs a vulnerable ASA or FTD version AND has WebVPN enabled, because the DoS condition only impacts devices with WebVPN active.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.2.3.15 / 6.3.0.5 / 6.4.0.6 or later
Fixed in 6.2.3.156.3.0.56.4.0.6
Interim mitigation

Apply the relevant Cisco security updates for ASA and FTD software. If patches are unavailable, consider disabling WebVPN if not required, or implement upstream rate limiting to reduce the impact of repeated requests.

Fix this in Adaptive Security Appliance Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2019-12698 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