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Secure Firewall Threat DefenseApplication · Cisco

CVE-2020-3188

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-05-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.4.0.9 / 6.5.0.5 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 how Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software handles session timeouts for management connections could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a buildup of remote management connections to an affected device, which could result in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability exists because the default session timeout period for specific to-the-box remote management connections is too long. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a large and sustained number of crafted remote management connections to an affected device, resulting in a buildup of those connections over time. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the remote management interface or Cisco Firepower Device Manager (FDM) to stop responding and cause other management functions to go offline, resulting in a DoS condition. The user traffic that is flowing through the device would not be affected, and the DoS condition would be isolated to remote management only.

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 in Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) where the default session timeout period for to-the-box remote management connections is excessively long. An unauthenticated remote attacker can send a sustained number of crafted management connections that accumulate over time, eventually exhausting available sessions and causing the management interface or Firepower Device Manager to stop responding.

MitigationApply the Cisco software update when available, or temporarily mitigate by reducing the session timeout period for remote management connections and implementing rate limiting on the management interface.

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
Secure Firewall Threat DefenseApplication
Affected:>= 6.4.0, < 6.4.0.9>= 6.5.0, < 6.5.0.5
Asa 5505 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= 9.8\(3\)= 101.6\(1.96\)
Asa 5510 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= 9.8\(3\)= 101.6\(1.96\)
Asa 5512 X FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= 9.8\(3\)= 101.6\(1.96\)
Asa 5515 X FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= 9.8\(3\)= 101.6\(1.96\)
Asa 5520 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= 9.8\(3\)= 101.6\(1.96\)
Asa 5525 X FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= 9.8\(3\)= 101.6\(1.96\)
Asa 5540 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= 9.8\(3\)= 101.6\(1.96\)

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
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

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 FTD version
    Run 'show version' or access the Firepower Device Manager to view the system version
    Affected if The version is >= 6.4.0 and < 6.4.0.9, or >= 6.5.0 and < 6.5.0.5
  2. Identify the installed Cisco ASA firmware version
    Run 'show version' on the ASA device CLI
    Affected if The firmware version is exactly 9.8(3) or 101.6(1.96)
  3. Verify if remote management access is enabled
    Check the running configuration for 'http server enable' or 'ssh' management access statements using 'show run'
    Affected if Remote management (HTTP, HTTPS, or SSH) is enabled on any interface accessible from untrusted networks
  4. Check the current session timeout configuration
    Run 'show running-config all timeout' or 'show timeout' to view session timeout settings for management connections
    Affected if The default session timeout is set to the original excessive value (not reduced from defaults)

You are affected if you are running a vulnerable Cisco FTD or ASA version AND have remote management access enabled, with the default long session timeout still in place.

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 6.4.0.9 / 6.5.0.5 or later
Fixed in 6.4.0.96.5.0.5
Interim mitigation

Apply the Cisco software update when available, or temporarily mitigate by reducing the session timeout period for remote management connections and implementing rate limiting on the management interface.

Fix this in Secure Firewall Threat Defense Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get the upgrade done

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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2020-3188 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