# CVE-2022-20759: Privilege escalation in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software

> An authenticated unprivileged attacker can elevate privileges to level 15 on Cisco ASA and FTD devices via the web services interface.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 3 May 2022
- **Updated:** 6 Nov 2024

## What is CVE-2022-20759?

CVE-2022-20759 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software, published on 3 May 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

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.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management), CWE-266 (Incorrect Privilege Assignment)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-20759?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software, Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-20759?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-20759 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-20759 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-20759 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software

- [CVE-2025-20333](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20333/): Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Buffer Overflow (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2016-6366](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-6366/): Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SNMP Buffer Overflow (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-20349](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20349/): Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Heap Inspection (high 8.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-20353](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-20353/): Cisco ASA and FTD Denial of Service (high 8.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2016-6367](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-6367/): Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) CLI Remote Code Execution (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-20759 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-20759 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software, published on 3 May 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-20759 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20759/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20759/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-20759
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-20759
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-20759

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20759/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.