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Adaptive Security Appliance SoftwareOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2020-3458

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-10-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.3.0.6 / 6.4.0.10 or later.
See remediation →
69/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Multiple vulnerabilities in the secure boot process of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software for the Firepower 1000 Series and Firepower 2100 Series Appliances could allow an authenticated, local attacker to bypass the secure boot mechanism. The vulnerabilities are due to insufficient protections of the secure boot process. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by injecting code into specific files that are then referenced during the device boot process. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to break the chain of trust and inject code into the boot process of the device, which would be executed at each boot and maintain persistence across reboots.

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

Multiple vulnerabilities in the secure boot process of Cisco ASA and FTD Software for Firepower 1000/2100 Series allow an authenticated, local attacker to inject code into specific files referenced during device boot, breaking the chain of trust and maintaining persistence across reboots.

MitigationUpdate Cisco ASA and FTD software to vendor-patched versions that address the secure boot bypass vulnerabilities.

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:>= 9.8.0, < 9.8.4.26>= 9.9.0, < 9.9.2.80>= 9.10.0, < 9.10.1.43>= 9.12.0, < 9.12.4.3>= 9.13.0, < 9.13.1.13>= 9.14.0, < 9.14.1.15
Secure Firewall Threat DefenseApplication
Affected:<= 6.2.2>= 6.3.0, < 6.3.0.6>= 6.4.0, < 6.4.0.10>= 6.5.0, < 6.5.0.5= 6.6.0

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 product type
    Run 'show version' on the device CLI and locate whether the output shows 'Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software' (ASA) or 'Cisco Firepower Threat Defense' (FTD)
    Affected if The product is Cisco ASA Software or Cisco FTD Software running on Firepower 1000/2100 Series hardware
  2. Determine the exact ASA software version
    Run 'show version' and locate the 'Software Version' line. Compare the full version number (for example, 9.12.3.10) against the affected ranges: 9.8.0 through 9.8.4.25, 9.9.0 through 9.9.2.79, 9.10.0 through 9.10.1.42, 9.12.0 through 9.12.4.2, 9.13.0 through 9.13.1.12, or 9.14.0 through 9.14.1.14
    Affected if The installed ASA version falls within any of the affected version ranges listed
  3. Determine the exact FTD software version
    Run 'show version' and locate the 'Software Version' line. Compare the version (for example, 6.4.0.5) against the affected ranges: 6.2.2 or lower, 6.3.0 through 6.3.0.5, 6.4.0 through 6.4.0.9, 6.5.0 through 6.5.0.4, or 6.6.0
    Affected if The installed FTD version falls within any of the affected version ranges listed
  4. Confirm the hardware platform for FTD
    Run 'show version' and locate the 'Hardware' or 'Model' line. Verify if the device is a Firepower 1010, 1120, 1140, 1150, 2110, 2120, or 2130 Series appliance
    Affected if The device runs FTD software and is a Firepower 1000 or 2100 Series model, and the version is affected

A user is affected if their device runs Cisco ASA or FTD Software on Firepower 1000/2100 Series hardware and the installed version matches any of the vulnerable version ranges for either product.

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 6.3.0.6 / 6.4.0.10 / 6.5.0.5 or later
Fixed in 6.3.0.66.4.0.106.5.0.5
Interim mitigation

Update Cisco ASA and FTD software to vendor-patched versions that address the secure boot bypass vulnerabilities.

Fix this in Adaptive Security Appliance Software Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
26.0 hours of engineering $4,560
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,296.

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-2020-3458 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