Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2023-20269

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software · 9.8.1

Watch CVE-2023-20269 Browse KEV feed
Severity
CVSS 5.0 · Medium
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
25.5%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2023-20269 is a vulnerability affecting Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software, Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software. A vulnerability in the remote access VPN feature of Cisco Adaptive Security...

Is it exploited?

Yes. Previdian tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is confirmed. Listed in CISA KEV. Also confirmed by third-party sources.

Who is affected?

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software 9.8.1.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software

A vulnerability in the remote access VPN feature of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct a brute force attack in an attempt to identify valid username and password combinations or an authenticated, remote attacker to establish a clientless SSL VPN session with an unauthorized user. This vulnerability is due to improper separation of authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) between the remote access VPN feature and the HTTPS management and site-to-site VPN features. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by specifying a default connection profile/tunnel group while conducting a brute force attack or while establishing a clientless SSL VPN session using valid credentials. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to achieve one or both of the following: Identify valid credentials that could then be used to establish an unauthorized remote access VPN session. Establish a clientless SSL VPN session (only when running Cisco ASA Software Release 9.16 or earlier).

Notes: Establishing a client-based remote access VPN tunnel is not possible as these default connection profiles/tunnel groups do not and cannot have an IP address pool configured. This vulnerability does not allow an attacker to bypass authentication. To successfully establish a remote access VPN session, valid credentials are required, including a valid second factor if multi-factor authentication (MFA) is configured. Cisco will release software updates that address this vulnerability. There are workarounds that address this vulnerability.

Cisco Affected
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
9.8.1 9.8.1.5 9.8.1.7 9.8.2 9.8.2.8 9.8.2.14 9.8.2.15 9.8.2.17 9.8.2.20 9.8.2.24 9.8.2.26 9.8.2.28 9.8.2.33 9.8.2.35 9.8.2.38 9.8.3.8 9.8.3.11 9.8.3.14 9.8.3.16 9.8.3.18 9.8.3.21 9.8.3 9.8.3.26 9.8.3.29 9.8.4 9.8.4.3 9.8.4.7 9.8.4.8 9.8.4.10 9.8.4.12 9.8.4.15 9.8.4.17 9.8.4.25 9.8.4.20 9.8.4.22 9.8.4.26 9.8.4.29 9.8.4.32 9.8.4.33 9.8.4.34 9.8.4.35 9.8.4.39 9.8.4.40 9.8.4.41 9.8.4.43 9.8.4.44 9.8.4.45 9.8.4.46 9.8.4.48 9.12.1 9.12.1.2 9.12.1.3 9.12.2 9.12.2.4 9.12.2.5 9.12.2.9 9.12.3 9.12.3.2 9.12.3.7 9.12.4 9.12.3.12 9.12.3.9 9.12.2.1 9.12.4.2 9.12.4.4 9.12.4.7 9.12.4.10 9.12.4.13 9.12.4.8 9.12.4.18 9.12.4.24 9.12.4.26 9.12.4.29 9.12.4.30 9.12.4.35 9.12.4.37 9.12.4.38 9.12.4.39 9.12.4.40 9.12.4.41 9.12.4.47 9.12.4.48 9.12.4.50 9.12.4.52 9.12.4.54 9.12.4.55 9.12.4.56 9.12.4.58 9.14.1 9.14.1.10 9.14.1.6 9.14.1.15 9.14.1.19 9.14.1.30 9.14.2 9.14.2.4 9.14.2.8 9.14.2.13 9.14.2.15 9.14.3 9.14.3.1 9.14.3.9 9.14.3.11 9.14.3.13 9.14.3.18 9.14.3.15 9.14.4 9.14.4.6 9.14.4.7 9.14.4.12 9.14.4.13 9.14.4.14 9.14.4.15 9.14.4.17 9.14.4.22 9.14.4.23 9.15.1 9.15.1.7 9.15.1.10 9.15.1.15 9.15.1.16 9.15.1.17 9.15.1.1 9.15.1.21 9.16.1 9.16.1.28 9.16.2 9.16.2.3 9.16.2.7 9.16.2.11 9.16.2.13 9.16.2.14 9.16.3 9.16.3.3 9.16.3.14 9.16.3.15 9.16.3.19 9.16.3.23 9.16.4 9.16.4.9 9.16.4.14 9.16.4.18 9.16.4.19 9.16.4.27 9.16.4.38 9.17.1 9.17.1.7 9.17.1.9 9.17.1.10 9.17.1.11 9.17.1.13 9.17.1.15 9.17.1.20 9.17.1.30 9.18.1 9.18.1.3 9.18.2 9.18.2.5 9.18.2.7 9.18.2.8 9.18.3 9.18.3.39 9.18.3.46 9.18.3.53 9.18.3.55 9.19.1 9.19.1.5 9.19.1.9 9.19.1.12 9.19.1.18
Cisco Affected
Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software
6.2.3 6.2.3.1 6.2.3.2 6.2.3.3 6.2.3.4 6.2.3.5 6.2.3.6 6.2.3.7 6.2.3.8 6.2.3.10 6.2.3.11 6.2.3.9 6.2.3.12 6.2.3.13 6.2.3.14 6.2.3.15 6.2.3.16 6.2.3.17 6.2.3.18 6.6.0 6.6.0.1 6.6.1 6.6.3 6.6.4 6.6.5 6.6.5.1 6.6.5.2 6.6.7 6.6.7.1 6.4.0 6.4.0.1 6.4.0.3 6.4.0.2 6.4.0.4 6.4.0.5 6.4.0.6 6.4.0.7 6.4.0.8 6.4.0.9 6.4.0.10 6.4.0.11 6.4.0.12 6.4.0.13 6.4.0.14 6.4.0.15 6.4.0.16 6.7.0 6.7.0.1 6.7.0.2 6.7.0.3 7.0.0 7.0.0.1 7.0.1 7.0.1.1 7.0.2 7.0.2.1 7.0.3 7.0.4 7.0.5 7.0.6 7.1.0 7.1.0.1 7.1.0.2 7.1.0.3 7.2.0 7.2.0.1 7.2.1 7.2.2 7.2.3 7.2.4 7.2.4.1 7.2.5 7.3.0 7.3.1 7.3.1.1 7.4.0
Published
06 Sep 2023
Exploitation Reported
13 Sep 2023
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None

Tags

malware cisa ransomware edge nessus_scanner windows

CVE References

  • CVE Record CVE.org · CVE Record https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-20269
  • cisco-sa-asaftd-ravpn-auth-8LyfCkeC sec.cloudapps.cisco.com · CVE Record https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurity...

Exploitation evidence

Why Previdian marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

CISA

Recorded 13 Sep 2023

A trusted third party reported exploitation.

Used in malware

CISA

Recorded 13 Sep 2023

Malware families have been linked to exploitation of this CVE.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the Previdian Pro API.

Learn about Pro API access
Source Added
CISA First 2023-09-13 00:00 UTC
CVE 2026-08-06 04:31 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
User-Agents
Callback hosts
0
0
0

Request targets and User-Agents available in Pro. Callback host details available in Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

No Previdian virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Scanner Reference Detected
Nessus https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/182523 02 Jun 2025

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

5.0 Medium

Potential damage if exploited. Separate from whether attackers are using it.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N

EPSS

25.5%

Estimated chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Previdian's warning comes from evidence, not this score.

Weaknesses

Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel CWE-288

Recent mention · The Hacker News

ThreatsDay: AI Secrets Leak, PingCAP Source Theft, Signal Hang-Up Flaw, Laravel Auth Bypass + 21 More

Ravie LakshmananOct 22, 2026Hacking News / Cybersecurity News This week has already been rough for cybersecurity. Critical PHP and GitLab RCE flaws, serious Linux security bugs, compromised eMudhra certificates, a Node.js RCE flaw, a hacked LiteLLM release, and hundreds of...

Read full advisory

All Mentions

Recent mention · The Hacker News

ThreatsDay: AI Secrets Leak, PingCAP Source Theft, Signal Hang-Up Flaw, Laravel Auth Bypass + 21 More

The Hacker News · 22 Oct 2026

Ravie LakshmananOct 22, 2026Hacking News / Cybersecurity News This week has already been rough for cybersecurity. Critical PHP and GitLab RCE flaws, serious Linux security bugs, compromised eMudhra certificates, a Node.js RCE flaw, a hacked LiteLLM release, and hundreds of hijacked Tor relays. That's a lot to deal with in just a few days. And the week isn't even over yet. But those big headlines are only half the story. Stolen passwords, exposed databases, broken login checks, and trusted tools being turned against their users are causing trouble too. Some attacks are clever. Others work...

Recent mention · The Record

FBI says SafePay ransomware gang ‘among most active’ with more than 600 victims since 2024

The Record · 20 Oct 2026

The FBI and cyber agencies in the UK and Germany said SafePay is targeting businesses and critical infrastructure by guessing passwords, exploiting vulnerabilities and using phishing attacks.

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. 04:31 UTC

    KEV confirmed by CVE

    Exploitation attested by an external source

  2. 09:26 UTC

    Nessus plugin available

    Scanner coverage available

  3. 00:00 UTC

    Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  4. 00:00 UTC

    First public exploitation report

    Exploit observed in malware

  5. 17:09 UTC

    CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  6. 18:47 UTC

    CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

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  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2023-20269

Sample API response 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2023-20269",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 5.0,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.25453,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}