# CVE-2022-20826: Security feature bypass in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software

> An attacker with physical access can bypass secure boot to execute persistent malicious code on Cisco ASA and FTD devices.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 10 Nov 2022
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-wpmq-hr5x-r7wq

## What is CVE-2022-20826?

CVE-2022-20826 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software, published on 10 Nov 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the secure boot implementation of Cisco Secure Firewalls 3100 Series that are running Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software or Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated attacker with physical access to the device to bypass the secure boot functionality.

 This vulnerability is due to a logic error in the boot process. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by injecting malicious code into a specific memory location during the boot process of an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute persistent code at boot time and break the chain of trust.

Weakness: CWE-501 (Trust Boundary Violation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-20826?

It affects 2 products.


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

## How do I fix CVE-2022-20826?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-20826 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-20826 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-20826 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-2022-20826 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-20826 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software, published on 10 Nov 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-20826 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-2022-20826/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20826/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-20826
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-20826
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-20826

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20826/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.