How severe is CVE-2023-20269?

CVE-2023-20269 has a CVSS score of 5/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-20269?

Affected package information for CVE-2023-20269 is not yet fully mapped. Check the official advisory links for details.

How do I fix CVE-2023-20269?

No fixed version has been published for CVE-2023-20269 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates, apply mitigations recommended by the vendor, and use O3 Security to track when a fix becomes available in your stack.

Is CVE-2023-20269 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 2 known exploit references for CVE-2023-20269, including 2 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2023-20269?

CVE-2023-20269 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 1.2%, placing it in the 79th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

Is CVE-2023-20269 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2023-20269 (Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance and Firepower Threat Defense Unauthorized Access Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2023-09-13. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2023-10-04. The required action was: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions for group-lock and vpn-simultaneous-logins or discontinue use of the product for unsupported devices. This CVE has been used in known ransomware campaigns. Being listed in the KEV catalog is the strongest possible confirmation of active exploitation — treat this as a critical priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2023-20269?

CVE-2023-20269 is classified as CWE-288 (CWE-288), CWE-863 (CWE-863). These weakness types describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

Which products and versions are affected by CVE-2023-20269?

CVE-2023-20269 affects cisco adaptive security appliance software (170 versions, e.g. 9.8.1, 9.8.1.5, 9.8.1.7…); cisco firepower threat defense (76 versions, e.g. 6.2.3, 6.2.3.1, 6.2.3.2…). Check the affected-products list on this page against your deployed version to confirm exposure.

When was CVE-2023-20269 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-20269 was published on September 6, 2023 and was last updated on October 28, 2025. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CISA KEV·Added 2023-09-13 — agencies required to remediate by 2023-10-04 · Ransomware

CVE-2023-20269

MEDIUM

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,…

Published

Sep 6, 2023

Updated

Oct 28, 2025

Affected

0 pkgs

Patched

None yet

Exploits

2 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

1.2%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk79th percentile0.00%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

Description

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.

Affected Products

2 products · 246 configurations

adaptive security appliance softwarecisco

170 versions

9.8.19.8.1.59.8.1.79.8.29.8.2.89.8.2.149.8.2.159.8.2.179.8.2.209.8.2.249.8.2.269.8.2.28

Application

firepower threat defensecisco

76 versions

6.2.36.2.3.16.2.3.26.2.3.36.2.3.46.2.3.56.2.3.66.2.3.76.2.3.86.2.3.96.2.3.106.2.3.11

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

A vulnerability in the remote access VPN feature of Cisco Adaptive Secur…

bleepingcomputer.comAPISep 2023

A vulnerability in the remote access VPN feature of Cisco Adaptive Secur…

cisa.govCISASep 2023

Frequently Asked Questions

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 featu

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2023-20269 in your stack?

O3 detects CVE-2023-20269 across dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

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