CVE-2019-15992: Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software and Firepower Threat Defense Software Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Severity: high (CVSS 7.2 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 4.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2020-09-23 · updated 2026-08-11
Weakness: CWE-119

Description

A vulnerability in the implementation of the Lua interpreter integrated in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary code with root privileges on the underlying Linux operating system of an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient restrictions on the allowed Lua function calls within the context of user-supplied Lua scripts. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to trigger a heap overflow condition and execute arbitrary code with root privileges on the underlying Linux operating system of an affected device.

Affected products

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance: before 9.6.4.36 — fixed in 9.6.4.36
Cisco ASA Software: from 9.7 before 9.8.4.15; from 9.9 before 9.9.2.61; from 9.10 before 9.10.1.32; from 9.12 before 9.12.3; from 9.13 before 9.13.1.4; from 9.14 before 9.14.2.7 — fixed in 9.10.1.32, 9.12.3, 9.13.1.4, 9.14.2.7, 9.15.1.4, 9.8.4.15
Cisco Firepower Management Center: before 6.2.3.16; from 6.3.0 before 6.3.0.6; from 6.4.0 before 6.4.0.7; from 6.5.0 before 6.5.0.2 — fixed in 6.2.3.16, 6.3.0.6, 6.4.0.7, 6.5.0.2
Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software: all versions

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance 9.6.4.36; Cisco ASA Software 9.10.1.32, 9.12.3, 9.13.1.4, 9.14.2.7; Cisco Firepower Management Center 6.2.3.16, 6.3.0.6, 6.4.0.7, 6.5.0.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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