Overview
In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity, system vulnerabilities pose a constant threat to the integrity of both personal and corporate networks. One such vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-2025, impacts the Remote Access SSL VPN service for Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Software. This vulnerability, if exploited, could lead to severe disruptions in VPN service, potentially culminating in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The implications of this vulnerability are vast, affecting a broad array of industries that rely on these Cisco products for secure, remote connectivity.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-20251
Severity: Critical (8.5/10.0)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: User
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software | All versions prior to patch
Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Software | All versions prior to patch
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability in question arises from inadequate input validation when processing HTTP requests. This oversight allows an authenticated, remote attacker to send specially crafted HTTP requests to the affected device. Upon successful exploitation, the attacker gains the ability to create or delete arbitrary files on the underlying operating system. If critical system files are manipulated, new Remote Access SSL VPN sessions could be denied and existing sessions could be dropped, leading to a denial of service (DoS) condition. In the worst-case scenario, the Remote Access SSL VPN service could become entirely unresponsive.
Conceptual Example Code
The following conceptual example illustrates how the vulnerability might be exploited. This is a sample HTTP request sent to a vulnerable endpoint:
POST /cisco/sslvpn/endpoint HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer <user_token>
{ "file_operation": "delete", "file_path": "/critical/system/file" }In this example, the attacker, authenticated as a VPN user, sends a malicious HTTP request to delete a critical system file. If successful, this will lead to disruption in the VPN service and potentially a full system compromise. Note that this is a conceptual example and the actual exploit method may vary.