CVE-2025-20238 Command injection in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
Authenticated local attackers with admin credentials can execute arbitrary root commands on Cisco ASA and FTD devices due to insufficient input validation.
- 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-2025-20238?
CVE-2025-20238 is a medium-severity command injection vulnerability in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software, published on 14 Aug 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
A vulnerability in Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system with root-level privileges. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid administrative credentials. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation of commands that are supplied by the user. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to a device and submitting crafted input for specific commands. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute commands on the underlying operating system as root.
Weakness: CWE-1244
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-20238?
How do I fix CVE-2025-20238?
No fix has been published for CVE-2025-20238 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Upgrade, and pass arguments to programs as a list instead of through a shell. More about Command injection.
Is CVE-2025-20238 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-20238 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-c3ph-mf94-pp8r.