Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance and Secure Firewall Threat Defense Software Remote Access SSL VPN Denial of Service Vulnerabilities

Plan Patch8.6cisco-sa-asaftd-vpn-m9sx6MbCMar 4, 2026
CiscoEnergyManufacturing
IT in OT - Cisco networking products are commonly deployed in OT environments
Attack path
Attack VectorNetwork
Auth RequiredNone
ComplexityLow
User InteractionNone needed
Summary

Multiple vulnerabilities in the Remote Access SSL VPN functionality of Cisco Secure Firewall ASA and Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Software allow a remote attacker to cause an affected device to stop responding or reload unexpectedly, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The firewall may require manual reboot to restore service. Cisco has released software updates that address these vulnerabilities. No workarounds are available.

What this means
What could happen
An attacker could remotely cause your Cisco firewall to stop responding or reload without warning, interrupting VPN access for remote workers and potentially disabling your network perimeter protection until manual recovery occurs.
Who's at risk
Energy and manufacturing facilities using Cisco Secure Firewall for network perimeter defense and remote access, including ASA 5500-X, Firepower 2100/4100/9000 Series, 3000 Series Industrial Security Appliances (ISA), and virtual appliances (ASAv, FTD Virtual).
How it could be exploited
An attacker can send specially crafted traffic to the SSL VPN interface of your Cisco Secure Firewall (ASA or FTD) over the network. The firewall processes this malformed VPN traffic and crashes or reloads, triggering a denial of service condition.
Prerequisites
  • Network reachability to the SSL VPN service port on the affected firewall (typically port 443)
  • The SSL VPN feature must be enabled on the firewall
remotely exploitableno authentication requiredlow complexityaffects network perimeter securityhigh CVSS score (8.6)no workarounds available
Exploitability
Unlikely to be exploited — EPSS score 0.2%
Affected products (11)
11 with fix
ProductAffected VersionsFix Status
Firepower 2100 SeriesAll versionsFix available
ASA 5500-X Series FirewallsAll versionsFix available
3000 Series Industrial Security Appliances (ISA)All versionsFix available
Firepower 9000 SeriesAll versionsFix available
Firepower 4100 SeriesAll versionsFix available
Adaptive Security Virtual Appliance (ASAv)All versionsFix available
Firepower 1000 SeriesAll versionsFix available
Secure Firewall 3100 SeriesAll versionsFix available
Remediation & Mitigation
0/2
Schedule — requires maintenance window
0/2

Patching may require device reboot — plan for process interruption

HOTFIXApply Cisco software updates to your affected Secure Firewall ASA or Threat Defense (FTD) devices according to the official Cisco advisory
HOTFIXPrioritize patching firewalls that have SSL VPN enabled and are directly exposed to untrusted networks
API: /api/v1/advisories/b161c404-c432-402b-b92a-2038a376ef43

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Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance and Secure Firewall Threat Defense Software Remote Access SSL VPN Denial of Service Vulnerabilities | CVSS 8.6 - OTPulse