CVE-2020-3452 remediation guide
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Firepower Threat Defense (FTD)
A vulnerability in the web services interface of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct directory traversal attacks and read sensitive files on a targeted system. The vulnerability is due to a lack of proper input validation of URLs in HTTP requests processed by an affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request containing directory traversal character sequences to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attac...
Identify the affected asset
Confirm whether Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) is installed, record the deployed version and installation path, and identify exposed interfaces.
- Record the product name, package or appliance identifier, and installed version.
- Identify internet-facing, administrative, API, and internal access paths.
- Preserve the pre-change configuration and relevant service logs.
Validate the affected-version match
Compare the deployed version with the affected range: unspecified, >= 9.6 < 9.6.4.42, >= 9.8 < 9.8.4.20, >= 9.9 < 9.9.2.74, >= 9.10 < 9.10.1.42, >= 9.12 < 9.12.3.12, >= 9.13 < 9.13.1.10, >= 9.14 < 9.14.1.10, >= 6.2.3 < 6.2.3.16, >= 6.3.0 < 6.3.0.6, >= 6.4.0 < 6.4.0.10, >= 6.5.0 < 6.5.0.5, >= 6.6.0 < 6.6.0.1. Treat incomplete inventory results as unresolved.
Prioritize with independent signals
CISA has listed this vulnerability in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Combine this signal with asset criticality, exposure, compensating controls, and business impact.
Apply supported remediation
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Verify the result
Confirm the resulting version, service health, authentication and access paths, monitoring coverage, and relevant security logs.
- Confirm the expected version and package state.
- Run a functional health check for critical service paths.
- Review authentication, error, application, and security monitoring logs.
- Reassess exposure if the supported fix cannot be applied.
Operational boundary
This page does not replace the vendor advisory, support contract, change-management process, or recovery plan. Do not infer that an asset is unaffected from an incomplete inventory query or a missing fixed-version field.