VulnerabilityPublished 16 Sep 2026Updated 18 Sep 2026

CVE-2026-20250: Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software · Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime

Affects Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.6 High.

Data as of 31 Oct 2026, 20:20 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.6High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 47% 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:H

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 16 Sep 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 31 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
CiscoCisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software	Affected 9.22.1.1 – 9.24.1 17 affected builds	Fixed in–
CiscoCisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Software	Affected 7.6.0 – 10.0.0 10 affected builds	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Until a patch is available, consider limiting exposure of DTLS services to untrusted networks if feasible.

Description

A vulnerability in Datagram TLS (DTLS) message handling of Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Software for Cisco Secure Firewall 3100 Series and 4200 Series devices could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to improper resource management when processing certain DTLS messages. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted stream of DTLS traffic to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the device to reload, resulting in a DoS condition.

Impact

An unauthenticated remote attacker can cause a denial of service on affected Cisco Secure Firewall ASA devices by triggering a reload through crafted DTLS traffic. This disrupts firewall availability but does not impact confidentiality or integrity.

Summary

This vulnerability arises from improper release of resources after processing certain DTLS messages in Cisco Secure Firewall ASA and FTD Software on Cisco Secure Firewall 3100 and 4200 Series devices. An attacker can exploit this by sending a crafted stream of DTLS traffic, causing the device to reload and resulting in a DoS condition. The vulnerability affects multiple specific versions of the ASA software as listed. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 8.6, indicating high severity with network attack vector, low attack complexity, no privileges or user interaction required, and impact limited to availability (device reload).

References

sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-asaftd-dtls-dos-Kp57HkyO (opens in a new tab)

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 24 Sep 2026, 04:33 UTC

Technical details

References

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