CVE-2021-1488: Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software and Firepower Threat Defense Software for Firepower 1000 and 2100 Series Appliances Command Injection Vulnerability

Severity: medium (CVSS 6.7 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2021-04-29 · updated 2026-08-11
Weakness: CWE-77

Description

A vulnerability in the upgrade process of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to inject commands that could be executed with root privileges on the underlying operating system (OS). This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by uploading a crafted upgrade package file to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to inject commands that could be executed with root privileges on the underlying OS.

Affected products

Cisco ASA Software: from 9.13 before 9.13.1.21; from 9.14 before 9.14.2.13; from 9.15 before 9.15.1.10 — fixed in 9.13.1.21, 9.14.2.13, 9.15.1.10
Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software: from 6.5.0 before 6.6.4; from 6.7.0 before 6.7.0.2 — fixed in 6.6.4, 6.7.0.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Cisco ASA Software 9.13.1.21, 9.14.2.13, 9.15.1.10; Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software 6.6.4, 6.7.0.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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