Adaptive Security Appliance SoftwareOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2019-1706

HIGH · 8.6 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-05-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 9.9.2.50 or later.
See remediation →
95/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 software cryptography module of the Cisco Adaptive Security Virtual Appliance (ASAv) and Firepower 2100 Series running Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an unexpected reload of the device that results in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to a logic error with how the software cryptography module handles IPsec sessions. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by creating and sending traffic in a high number of IPsec sessions through the targeted device. A successful exploit could cause the device to reload and result in a DoS condition.

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 logic error in the software cryptography module of Cisco ASAv and Firepower 2100 Series devices causes an unexpected device reload when handling a high number of IPsec sessions. An unauthenticated remote attacker can trigger this condition by creating and sending traffic through numerous IPsec tunnels, resulting in denial of service.

MitigationApply the appropriate Cisco ASA Software update or upgrade to a fixed release. Implement rate limiting on IPsec sessions as a temporary mitigation if available, and monitor for signs of exploitation.

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:>= 9.9, <= 9.9.2.50

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
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/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 device model
    Run 'show version' or 'show inventory' command to confirm the device is Cisco ASAv or Firepower 2100 Series
    Affected if Device is not ASAv or Firepower 2100 Series (not affected by this CVE)
  2. Check ASA software version
    Run 'show version' and locate the ASA software version number
    Affected if Version is 9.9.x and falls within the range 9.9 through 9.9.2.50 inclusive
  3. Verify IPsec is configured
    Run 'show crypto ipsec sa count' or 'show vpn-sessiondb summary' to check for active IPsec tunnels
    Affected if No IPsec tunnels are configured or active (vulnerability requires IPsec session handling to trigger)
  4. Check for unexpected device reloads
    Run 'show reload' to view reload history and 'show crashinfo' if available to look for crypto-related crashes
    Affected if Device has reloaded unexpectedly with crypto module involvement
  5. Monitor IPsec session count
    Run 'show crypto ipsec sa count' to observe current IPsec session volume and compare against normal baseline
    Affected if Session count is abnormally high or approaching limits without legitimate cause

Device is affected if it is an ASAv or Firepower 2100 Series running ASA software version 9.9 through 9.9.2.50 with IPsec tunnels actively configured.

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 a release after 9.9.2.50
Interim mitigation

Apply the appropriate Cisco ASA Software update or upgrade to a fixed release. Implement rate limiting on IPsec sessions as a temporary mitigation if available, and monitor for signs of exploitation.

Fix this in Adaptive Security Appliance Software Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,760
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-1706 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-1706 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