Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software and Firepower Threat Defense Software Web Services File Upload Denial of Service Vulnerability

Update from October 22nd, 2020: Cisco has become aware of a new Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance vulnerability that could affect the fixed releases recommended for code trains 9.13 and 9.14 in the Fixed Software [“#fs”] section of this advisory. See the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software SSL/TLS Denial of Service Vulnerability [“https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-asa-ssl-dos-7uZWwSEy”] for additional information.

A vulnerability in the web services interface of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to upload arbitrary-sized files to specific folders on an affected device, which could lead to an unexpected device reload.

The vulnerability exists because the affected software does not efficiently handle the writing of large files to specific folders on the local file system. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by uploading files to those specific folders. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to write a file that triggers a watchdog timeout, which would cause the device to unexpectedly reload, causing a denial of service (DoS) condition.

Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.

This advisory is available at the following link:
https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-asaftd-fileup-dos-zvC7wtys [“https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-asaftd-fileup-dos-zvC7wtys”]

This advisory is part of the October 2020 Cisco ASA, FMC, and FTD Software Security Advisory Bundled Publication, which includes 17 Cisco Security Advisories that describe 17 vulnerabilities. For a complete list of the advisories and links to them, see Cisco Event Response: October 2020 Cisco ASA, FMC, and FTD Software Security Advisory Bundled Publication [“https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/viewErp.x?alertId=ERP-74302”].