Adaptive Security Appliance SoftwareOperating system · Cisco
CVE-2022-20826
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 · uneditedA vulnerability in the secure boot implementation of Cisco Secure Firewalls 3100 Series that are running Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software or Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated attacker with physical access to the device to bypass the secure boot functionality. This vulnerability is due to a logic error in the boot process. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by injecting malicious code into a specific memory location during the boot process of an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute persistent code at boot time and break the chain of trust.
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 confidenceA logic error in the boot process of Cisco Secure Firewalls 3100 Series (running ASA or FTD software) allows an unauthenticated attacker with physical access to inject malicious code into a specific memory location during device boot, bypassing secure boot and achieving persistent code execution that breaks the chain of trust.
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
= 9.17.1= 9.17.1.9= 9.17.1.10= 9.17.1.13= 9.18.1= 9.18.1.3
Secure Firewall Threat DefenseApplication
= 7.1.0.0= 7.2.0.0= 7.2.0.1CVSS 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
- Physical
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify device modelRun `show inventory` or `show version` on the firewall CLI to confirm the hardware is a Cisco 3100 Series applianceAffected if Device model is not Cisco 3100 Series (different models are not affected by this CVE)
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Determine software typeRun `show version` to identify whether the device runs ASA (Adaptive Security Appliance) or FTD (Firepower Threat Defense) softwareAffected if Device does not run ASA or FTD software (this vulnerability only affects these software types on 3100 Series)
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Check ASA versionIf running ASA software, run `show version | include Version` to obtain the exact ASA version numberAffected if ASA version is exactly 9.17.1, 9.17.1.9, 9.17.1.10, 9.17.1.13, 9.18.1, or 9.18.1.3 (these are the only affected ASA versions)
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Check FTD versionIf running FTD software, run `show version` or `show system software` to obtain the exact FTD version numberAffected if FTD version is exactly 7.1.0.0, 7.2.0.0, or 7.2.0.1 (these are the only affected FTD versions)
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Assess physical access exposureEvaluate whether the device is located in an area where unauthorized individuals could gain physical access during device bootAffected if Device is in a physically accessible location and runs an affected version (physical access is required to exploit this vulnerability)
Device is affected only if it is a Cisco 3100 Series firewall running exactly ASA version 9.17.1, 9.17.1.9, 9.17.1.10, 9.17.1.13, 9.18.1, or 9.18.1.3, or exactly FTD version 7.1.0.0, 7.2.0.0, or 7.2.0.1, and is physically accessible to an attacker.
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 dataApply Cisco-provided software/firmware updates when available. Until then, enforce strict physical security controls on affected devices and verify secure boot integrity after any updates.
Fix this in Adaptive Security Appliance Software
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,832.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-20826 — 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-2022-20826 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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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.
- 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
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