CVE-2018-0240 Denial of service in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance
Remote attackers can cause a denial of service by sending malicious traffic to Cisco ASA or FTD devices with Application Layer Protocol Inspection enabled.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2018-0240?
CVE-2018-0240 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software, published on 19 Apr 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Multiple vulnerabilities in the Application Layer Protocol Inspection feature of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to trigger a reload of an affected device, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerabilities are due to logical errors during traffic inspection. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by sending a high volume of malicious traffic across an affected device. An exploit could allow the attacker to cause a deadlock condition, resulting in a reload of an affected device. These vulnerabilities affect Cisco ASA Software and Cisco FTD Software configured for Application Layer Protocol Inspection running on the following Cisco products: 3000 Series Industrial Security Appliance (ISA), ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances, ASA 5500-X Series Next-Generation Firewalls, ASA Services Module for Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches and Cisco 7600 Series Routers, Adaptive Security Virtual Appliance (ASAv), Firepower 2100 Series Security Appliance, Firepower 4100 Series Security Appliance, Firepower 9300 ASA Security Module, FTD Virtual (FTDv). Cisco Bug IDs: CSCve61540, CSCvh23085, CSCvh95456.
Weakness: CWE-399
Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-0240?
It affects 2 products.
Products include Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software, Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense.
How do I fix CVE-2018-0240?
No fix has been published for CVE-2018-0240 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2018-0240 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-0240 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software
- CVE-2025-20333 Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Buffer Overflow
- CVE-2016-6366 Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SNMP Buffer Overflow
- CVE-2026-20349 Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Heap Inspection
- CVE-2024-20353 Cisco ASA and FTD Denial of Service
- CVE-2016-6367 Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) CLI Remote Code Execution
All Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software vulnerabilities
Sources
Also known as GHSA-c4wx-x65q-h4fx.