A vulnerability in the activation of an access control list (ACL) on Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass the protection that is offered by a configured ACL on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to a logic error that occurs when an ACL changes from inactive to active in the running configuration of an affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending traffic through the affected device that should be denied by the configured ACL. The reverse condition is also true—traffic that should be permitted could be denied by the configured ACL. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to bypass configured ACL protections on the affected device, allowing the attacker to access trusted networks that the device might be protecting. Note: This vulnerability applies to both IPv4 and IPv6 traffic as well as dual-stack ACL configurations in which both IPv4 and IPv6 ACLs are configured on an interface.
| Software | From | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| cisco / adaptive_security_appliance_software | 9.20.1 | 9.20.1.x |
| cisco / adaptive_security_appliance_software | 9.20.1.5 | 9.20.1.5.x |
| cisco / adaptive_security_appliance_software | 9.19.1 | 9.19.1.24.x |
| cisco / firepower_threat_defense | 7.3.0 | 7.4.0.x |
A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.
CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.
A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.
Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.
Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.
SynScan combines attack surface monitoring and continuous security auditing to keep your inventory current, flag high-impact vulnerabilities early, and help you turn raw findings into a practical remediation plan.