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Adaptive Security Appliance SoftwareOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2024-20297

MEDIUM · 5.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-10-23
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
67/100
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 the AnyConnect firewall for Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass a configured access control list (ACL) and allow traffic that should have been denied to flow through an affected device. This vulnerability is due to a logic error in populating group ACLs when an AnyConnect client establishes a new session toward an affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by establishing an AnyConnect connection to the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to bypass configured ACL rules.

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

This is a logic error vulnerability in Cisco ASA and FTD software where group ACLs are incorrectly populated when an AnyConnect client establishes a new session. The flaw causes configured access control rules to not be properly enforced, allowing traffic that should be denied to pass through the affected device.

MitigationApply the vendor-provided software update from Cisco to fix the logic error in group ACL population for AnyConnect sessions.

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:= 9.8.1= 9.8.1.5= 9.8.1.7= 9.8.2= 9.8.2.8= 9.8.2.14= 9.8.2.15= 9.8.2.17= 9.8.2.20= 9.8.2.24= 9.8.2.26= 9.8.2.28
Secure Firewall Threat DefenseApplication
Affected:= 6.2.3= 6.2.3.1= 6.2.3.2= 6.2.3.3= 6.2.3.4= 6.2.3.5= 6.2.3.6= 6.2.3.7= 6.2.3.8= 6.2.3.9= 6.2.3.10= 6.2.3.11

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
Low
Availability
None

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

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 product and version
    Run 'show version' on the Cisco device CLI to confirm whether you are running Cisco ASA Software or Cisco Firepower Threat Defense, and note the exact software version number displayed.
    Affected if The version matches any of: ASA 9.8.1, 9.8.1.5, 9.8.1.7, 9.8.2, 9.8.2.8, 9.8.2.14, 9.8.2.15, 9.8.2.17, 9.8.2.20, 9.8.2.24, 9.8.2.26, 9.8.2.28, or FTD 6.2.3 through 6.2.3.11 (any 6.2.3.x)
  2. Confirm AnyConnect VPN is active
    Run 'show vpn-sessiondb anyconnect' or 'show webvpn session' to see if AnyConnect client sessions are active or have been established on this device.
    Affected if AnyConnect sessions have been or are currently active on the device
  3. Verify group ACL configuration exists
    Run 'show run access-list' and look for access-list entries that are assigned to group-policy objects (search for 'group-policy' and associated 'access-list' or 'filter' commands).
    Affected if Any group policies with access-list or filter rules are defined for VPN users
  4. Inspect traffic enforcement behavior
    Review traffic logs or connection logs for AnyConnect sessions where traffic that should be blocked by group ACL rules is being permitted. Compare the configured group ACL rules with actual allowed traffic flows.
    Affected if Traffic that matches deny rules in the group ACL is being allowed through for AnyConnect VPN sessions

You are affected if you run a Cisco ASA 9.8.x version or FTD 6.2.3.x version from the listed affected versions AND use AnyConnect with group access control lists, where traffic that should be denied is unexpectedly passing through.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the vendor-provided software update from Cisco to fix the logic error in group ACL population for AnyConnect sessions.

Fix this in Adaptive Security Appliance Software Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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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-2024-20297 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
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