Full Report
Cisco on Monday updated an advisory to warn customers of active exploitation of a decade-old security flaw impacting its Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA). The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2014-2120 (CVSS score: 4.3), concerns a case of insufficient input validation in ASA's WebVPN login page that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct a cross-site scripting (XSS) attack
Analysis Summary
# Vulnerability: Cisco ASA WebVPN Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
## CVE Details
- CVE ID: CVE-2014-2120
- CVSS Score: 4.3 (Low)
- CWE: Insufficient Input Validation (Implied XSS)
## Affected Systems
- Products: Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA)
- Versions: Not explicitly listed in the summary, but implied to be older versions vulnerable prior to the 2014 advisory.
- Configurations: Affects ASA devices with WebVPN enabled.
## Vulnerability Description
The vulnerability is a Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) flaw residing in the insufficient input validation performed on the WebVPN login page of the Cisco ASA. An unauthenticated, remote attacker could exploit this by constructing a malicious link and convincing an authenticated user to access it.
## Exploitation
- Status: **Exploited in the wild** (Cisco revised its advisory in Dec 2024 to note awareness of "additional attempted exploitation" in the wild. CISA added it to KEV catalog).
- Complexity: Low (Requires user interaction via a malicious link).
- Attack Vector: Network
## Impact
- Confidentiality: Potential impact (if JavaScript executes, session hijacking or data exfiltration is possible)
- Integrity: Potential impact (if JavaScript executes, malicious actions on behalf of the user are possible)
- Availability: Low potential impact
## Remediation
### Patches
- Specific patch versions are not detailed in this context, but users are highly recommended to keep their Cisco ASA installations **up-to-date** based on Cisco's original March 2014 advisories and subsequent updates.
### Workarounds
- No specific workarounds are detailed in this summary, other than ensuring installations are updated.
## Detection
- CISA has added this vulnerability to its **Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV)** catalog, indicating active exploitation risks.
- Threat actors (like those behind AndroxGh0st) are leveraging this vulnerability, often in conjunction with other flaws, to propagate malware (like Mozi botnet components).
## References
- Vendor Advisory: [sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-CVE-2014-2120](http://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-CVE-2014-2120) (Defanged)
- CISA KEV Catalog: [cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2024/11/12/cisa-adds-five-known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog](http://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2024/11/12/cisa-adds-five-known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog) (Defanged)