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🛡️ CVE-2023-20042 — adaptive-security-appliance-software

🟡 CVSS 6.8 — Medium ✅ No Known Exploit CWE-404 NVD
6.8
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

A vulnerability in the AnyConnect SSL VPN feature of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to an implementation error within the SSL/TLS session handling process that can prevent the release of a session handler under specific conditions. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted SSL/TLS traffic to an affected device, increasing the probability of session handler leaks. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to eventually deplete the available session handler pool, preventing new sessions from being established and causing a DoS condition.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached over the network, attack complexity is high, an attacker needs no privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is changed, meaning a successful attack can affect components beyond the vulnerable one. Rated impact: confidentiality none, integrity none, availability high.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H

  • Attack vector: Network — reachable from anywhere that can route to the service.
  • Attack complexity: High — the attacker first has to win a race, learn a secret or otherwise prepare the target.
  • Privileges required: None — an unauthenticated stranger can try it.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Changed — a successful attack reaches components beyond the vulnerable one.
  • Confidentiality impact: None.
  • Integrity impact: None.
  • Availability impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.

Weakness class

CVE-2023-20042 is classified as CWE-404: Improper Resource Shutdown or Release. A resource is not released correctly after use, leaving it locked, leaked or in an inconsistent state.

Affected software

CVE-2023-20042 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • adaptive-security-appliance-software
  • secure-firewall-threat-defense

Timeline and source

Published on 1 November 2023 and last revised on 11 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. Record sourced from NVD.

References

sec.cloudapps.cisco.com
sec.cloudapps.cisco.com

Other advisories for this package

adaptive-security-appliance-software has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

Same weakness in other software

These advisories are the same class of weakness (CWE-404: Improper Resource Shutdown or Release) in other software:

Details

Severity MEDIUM
CVSS Score 6.8
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE CWE-404
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2023-11-01
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-11
Fix URL N/A

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
adaptive-security-appliance-software — —
secure-firewall-threat-defense — —

Similar Threats

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ⓘ Data Notice: The information presented above has been compiled from publicly available internet sources. Boteraser aggregates this data solely for informational purposes and does not independently classify, evaluate, or endorse any findings about the vulnerabilities listed. The accuracy and completeness of this information is the sole responsibility of the original publishers. Boteraser and its operators accept no liability for any decisions made based on this data.

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