Threats / Cisco / CVE-2020-3259
CVE-2020-3259
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-09-19
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Firepower Threat vulnerability
Cisco ASA and FTD contain an information disclosure vulnerability in web services interface URL parsing that could expose memory contents and confidential information.
Verdict
Today item, not a backlog item.
An attacker exploiting this buffer tracking flaw in invalid URL handling can retrieve sensitive data from affected devices running specific AnyConnect and WebVPN configurations, leading to information disclosure.
CISA KEV Yes · 2024-02-155Ransomware use Flagged5EPSS 0.71789 (verify live)6CVSS 7.53CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Impact: partial4
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
64 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2024-02-15), flagged for known ransomware use.
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.71789 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 7.5 (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N) · Affected: Cisco, Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Firepower Threat Defense (FTD). Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CNA-assigned (CVE.org), version 3.0, set at disclosure.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-200 Information Exposure — weakness family: Authorization / access control.CWE — CNA-assigned (CVE.org); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Technical Impact: partialCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 1380 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAkira Ransomware
The #StopRansomware joint advisory AA24-109A reports that Akira ransomware affiliates gain initial access through Cisco VPN appliances lacking MFA, naming the group and the Cisco ASA/FTD CVEs they exploit to do so.13
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I craft malformed URLs targeting the web services interface of vulnerable ASA or FTD devices.
Business
Confidential information stored in device memory becomes accessible to unauthorized parties.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I parse the returned memory contents to extract sensitive credentials, configuration data, or other protected information.
Business
Compromised credentials enable lateral movement and further network infiltration.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I leverage disclosed information to establish persistent access or escalate privileges within the target environment.
Business
Security perimeter is breached, enabling ransomware deployment or data exfiltration campaigns.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05
Coverage & confidence
— what we know, and what we don’tEstablished (cited)
Coverage gaps — stated, not hidden
Found an error? Propose a correction.
A correction is a cited counter-claim — it must cite a source,
gets reviewed by a second human, and is never auto-applied. See the
correction convention and our identity
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