CVE-2023-20269 — Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software

As of 2025-10-21, CVE-2023-20269 is a MEDIUM-severity vulnerability in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software, CVSS v3.1 5, EPSS 0.8% (75.6th percentile). It is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2023-09-13), with a US federal remediation deadline of 2023-10-04, and CISA links it to known ransomware campaigns. Threadlinqs Intelligence links 1 tracked threat campaign to CVE-2023-20269, most recently “Akira Ransomware Kill Chain — SSLVPN Credential Stuffing → Kerberoasting → RDP Lateral → vssadmin Shadow Copy Deletion (SANS ISC Forensic Reconstruction, May 2026)”.

Last updated: 2025-10-21

What is CVE-2023-20269?

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.

The record classifies CVE-2023-20269 under weakness class CWE-288. Its CVSS v3 base vector states that the flaw is reachable remotely over the network, needs low-privilege credentials, needs no user interaction. 2 affected-product entries are recorded, across 1 vendor, listed below. The identifier was first published 1103 days ago.

Severity and exploitation probability

CVSS v3.1 base score

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

EPSS (FIRST)

0.8% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 75.6% of all scored CVEs

CISA KEV

Listed since 2023-09-13, federal remediation deadline 2023-10-04 — used in known ransomware campaigns

Threadlinqs priority

10/10 — CISA lists it as used in ransomware, which Threadlinqs scores at the maximum

Published

2023-09-06, last modified 2025-10-21

Is CVE-2023-20269 being exploited?

CISA added CVE-2023-20269 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2023-09-13, which means the agency holds evidence of exploitation in the wild; US federal civilian agencies had to remediate it by 2023-10-04 under BOD 22-01. CISA flags the vulnerability as one used in known ransomware campaigns. It currently carries a trending score of 34 in the Threadlinqs vulnerability feed.

Affected products and versions

• Cisco: Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software, Firepower Threat Defense Software

How to fix CVE-2023-20269

Because CVE-2023-20269 is KEV-listed, US federal civilian agencies were required to apply the vendor fix, or stop using the product, by 2023-10-04. No vendor patch reference has been recorded for CVE-2023-20269 in the tracked sources. Follow the references below for a fix, and treat the products listed above as exposed until the vendor states otherwise.

Threat activity tracking CVE-2023-20269

1 tracked threat in the Threadlinqs corpus references CVE-2023-20269, either in the campaign’s CVE list or as an indicator on the campaign record.

• Akira Ransomware Kill Chain — SSLVPN Credential Stuffing → Kerberoasting → RDP Lateral → vssadmin Shadow Copy Deletion (SANS ISC Forensic Reconstruction, May 2026) — HIGH · 2026-05-27

Sources

Seeded from cveorg and not yet processed by the Threadlinqs enrichment pipeline, so blank CVSS, EPSS or KEV fields above mean NOT MEASURED rather than measured-absent.

• sec.cloudapps.cisco.com

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