CVE-2020-3187Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software and Firepower Threat Defense Software Web Services Path Traversal Vulnerability
- 9.1CriticalCVSS base score
- 96.5%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 0.1% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- 2Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
A vulnerability in the web services interface of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct directory traversal attacks and obtain read and delete access to sensitive files on a targeted system. The vulnerability is due to a lack of proper input validation of the HTTP URL. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request containing directory traversal character sequences. An exploit could allow the attacker to view or delete arbitrary files on the targeted system. When the device is reloaded after exploitation of this vulnerability, any files that were deleted are restored. The attacker can only view and delete files within the web services file system. This file system is enabled when the affected device is configured with either WebVPN or AnyConnect features. This vulnerability can not be used to obtain access to ASA or FTD system files or underlying operating system (OS) files. Reloading the affected device will restore all files within the web services file system.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list a Nuclei template and an Exploit-DB entry for it.
Show the exploits2
Nuclei templates1 template
- Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software/Cisco Firepower Threat Defense - Directory Traversal (Nuclei template) (opens in a new tab)
http/cves/2020/CVE-2020-3187.yamlSeverity critical
Exploit-DB1 entry
- Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software 9.7 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Deletion (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 48723webapps, hardwarepublished 29 Jul 2020Not verified
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By cisco
- 5 months later
· 5 months later
Published
- 5 years later
· 5 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| ciscoCNA (assigner) | 3.0 | Critical9.1 | CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | Critical9.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 96.5% · top 0.1% of all CVEs (14 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 9.1.
Affected products
Cisco · Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
- affected n/a
What to do
Exploitation: The Cisco Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) is not aware of any public announcements or malicious use of the vulnerability that is described in this advisory.
References
References2
- 20200506 Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software and Firepower Threat Defense Software Web Services Path Traversal Vulnerability (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_CISCOx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/158648/Cisco-Adaptive-Security-Appliance-Software-9.7-Arbitrary-File-Deletion.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2020-24458 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2020-3187)Record last updated .