High severity · published Aug 14, 2025
CVE-2025-20251
Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance and Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Software Authenticated Arbitrary File Deletion
8.5
CVSS
0.5%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
A vulnerability in the Remote Access SSL VPN service for Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to create or delete arbitrary files on the underlying operating system. If critical system files are manipulated, new Remote Access SSL VPN sessions could be denied and existing sessions could be dropped, causing a denial of service (DoS) condition. An exploited device requires a manual reboot to recover.
This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation when processing HTTP requests. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted HTTP requests to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to create or delete files on the underlying operating system, which could cause the Remote Access SSL VPN service to become unresponsive.
To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must be authenticated as a VPN user of the affected device.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
High
Scope
Changed
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.5% · higher than 40% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
CA
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software · Cisco
9.12.3; 9.8.3; 9.12.1; 9.8.1; 9.12.2; 9.8.2.45; +34 more · source: vendor
CF
Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software · Cisco
6.2.3.14; 6.4.0.1; 6.2.3.7; 6.2.3; 6.4.0.2; 6.2.3.9; +34 more · source: vendor
Affected product
CA
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
Cisco
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-20251
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-20251
sec.cloudapps.cisco.com
https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-asaftd-http-file-hUyX2jL4
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