Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance Software OSPF Protocol Parser memory leak

CVSS Meta Temp Score
CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.
Current Exploit Price (≈)
Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.
CTI Interest Score
Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
4.2$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance Software and Secure Firewall Threat Defense Software. It has been rated as problematic. The impacted element is an unknown function of the component OSPF Protocol Parser. This manipulation causes memory leak. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-20021. The attack is only possible within the local network. No exploit exists. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance Software and Secure Firewall Threat Defense Software (version unknown) and classified as problematic. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown function of the component OSPF Protocol Parser. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory leak vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-401. The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, which slowly consumes remaining memory. As an impact it is known to affect availability. The summary by CVE is:

A vulnerability in the OSPF protocol of Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an authenticated, adjacent attacker to exhaust memory on an affected device, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability is due to improperly validating input by the OSPF protocol when parsing packets. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by by sending crafted OSPF packets to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust memory on the affected device, resulting in a DoS condition.

The advisory is shared at sec.cloudapps.cisco.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-20021 since 10/08/2025. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack needs to approached within the local network. The exploitation doesn't need any form of authentication. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 03/05/2026).

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability.

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

Vendor

Name

License

Website

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 4.3
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 4.2

VulDB Base Score: 4.3
VulDB Temp Score: 4.1
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CNA Base Score: 4.3
CNA Vector (cisco): 🔒

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Memory leak
CWE: CWE-401 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-DayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
TodayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Timelineinfo

10/08/2025 CVE reserved
03/05/2026 +148 days Advisory disclosed
03/05/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
03/05/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: cisco.com

Advisory: cisco-sa-asaftd-ospf-ZH8PhbSW
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-20021 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-20021
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-348817

Entryinfo

Created: 03/05/2026 02:29
Changes: 03/05/2026 02:29 (64)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Discussion

No comments yet. Languages: en.

Please log in to comment.

Do you need the next level of professionalism?

Upgrade your account now!