CVE-2024-20481: Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software · Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime
Affects Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareSource CVE Database V5
Exploited in the wild · KEV due 14 Nov 2024 · 15% EPSS : apply the vendor's fix or mitigations to Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software now.
Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC
- KEV deadline
- US federal agencies must patch by this date; a sensible deadline for everyone else.
- EPSS
- 15.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 96% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:LExploitation evidence
t = 0 is the CVE’s publication on cve.org
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 23 Oct 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: evidence found.
Listed in CISA KEV 1 day after disclosure
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors
Timeline
CVE ID reserved
by cisco
, 350 days before disclosure
CVE published
on cve.org
, t = 0
Added to CISA KEV (opens in a new tab)
exploitation confirmed
, 1 day after disclosure
KEV remediation due
US federal deadline
, 22 days after disclosure
A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), CISA KEV (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.
What to do
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| Cisco Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Check the firmware or software version for Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software in the device's admin interface against the vendor advisory.
Description
A vulnerability in the Remote Access VPN (RAVPN) service of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) of the RAVPN service. This vulnerability is due to resource exhaustion. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a large number of VPN authentication requests to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust resources, resulting in a DoS of the RAVPN service on the affected device. Depending on the impact of the attack, a reload of the device may be required to restore the RAVPN service. Services that are not related to VPN are not affected. Cisco Talos discussed these attacks in the blog post Large-scale brute-force activity targeting VPNs, SSH services with commonly used login credentials.