CVE-2023-20269
CVE-2023-20269
In short
A flaw in Cisco ASA and FTD VPN systems allows attackers to brute-force usernames and passwords without proper rate limiting, or to use valid credentials to access VPN sessions they shouldn't be authorized for. This happens because the system doesn't properly separate permissions between different VPN types.
Technical detail
CWE-288 (Authentication Bypass) vulnerability in Cisco ASA/FTD remote access VPN stems from improper AAA separation between remote access and site-to-site VPN features. An unauthenticated remote attacker can conduct brute-force attacks against default tunnel groups, or an authenticated attacker can establish clientless SSL VPN sessions with unauthorized user credentials. Exploitation requires network access to the VPN interface; impact includes credential enumeration and unauthorized session establishment on affected ASA 9.16 and earlier releases.
Summary generated and translated by AI from the official description.
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.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N