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Fencer Vulns
high 8.8

CVE-2022-20759 in the critical feed json

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software and Firepower Threat Defense Software Web Services Interface Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

published 2022-05-03 4 y ago modified 2026-08-11 2 mo ago also EUVD-2022-26009

cvss
8.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
28.7%
EPSS 28.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 98%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

A vulnerability in the web services interface for remote access VPN features of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an authenticated, but unprivileged, remote attacker to elevate privileges to level 15. This vulnerability is due to improper separation of authentication and authorization scopes. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted HTTPS messages to the web services interface of an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to gain privilege level 15 access to the web management interface of the device. This includes privilege level 15 access to the device using management tools like the Cisco Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM) or the Cisco Security Manager (CSM). Note: With Cisco FTD Software, the impact is lower than the CVSS score suggests because the affected web management interface allows for read access only.

Patch / fix

  • cisco secure_firewall_threat_defense 6.4.0.15, 6.6.5.2, 7.0.2
  • cisco adaptive_security_appliance_software 9.12.4.38, 9.14.4, 9.15.1.21, 9.16.2.14, 9.17.1.7

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
2 y ago

Exploit prediction

28.74% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 98% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • github.com https://github.com/orangecertcc/security-research/security/advisories/GHSA-gq88-gqmj-7v24 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 8.5 AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C

Affected products

  • Cisco Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-266 Incorrect Privilege Assignment
  • CWE-269 Improper Privilege Management

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.