CVE-2024-20485 Code injection in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
An authenticated administrator can execute arbitrary code with root privileges by restoring a crafted backup file to Cisco ASA or FTD devices.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2024-20485?
CVE-2024-20485 is a medium-severity code injection vulnerability in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software, published on 23 Oct 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
A vulnerability in the VPN web server of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary code with root-level privileges. Administrator-level privileges are required to exploit this vulnerability. This vulnerability is due to improper validation of a specific file when it is read from system flash memory. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by restoring a crafted backup file to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the affected device after the next reload of the device, which could alter system behavior. Because the injected code could persist across device reboots, Cisco has raised the Security Impact Rating (SIR) of this advisory from Medium to High.
Weakness: CWE-94
Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-20485?
It affects 2 products.
Products include Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software, Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense.
How do I fix CVE-2024-20485?
No fix has been published for CVE-2024-20485 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Upgrade, and never evaluate templates, expressions or code built from user input. More about Code injection.
Is CVE-2024-20485 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-20485 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-m83r-8rcp-wv5v.