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Threats / Cisco / CVE-2025-20333
CVE-2025-20333 · EUVD no mirror located · GCVE no mirror located Verified 2026-06-22

Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance and Threat vulnerability

Buffer overflow in Cisco Secure Firewall ASA and FTD VPN web server enables remote code execution. Actively exploited in the wild.

Verdict

Today item — known-exploited.

A buffer overflow in the VPN web server component allows unauthenticated remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected Cisco firewalls. Active exploitation demonstrates immediate risk to perimeter security infrastructure.

CISA KEV Yes · 2025-09-253EPSS 0.29197 (verify live)4
01

Is it exploitable?

— the evidence, ranked above the score
Reported exploitation
26 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2025-09-25).
CISA KEV ↗Confirmed
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.29197 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: Cisco, Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance and Secure Firewall Threat Defense. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
NVD ↗Reported
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-120 Buffer Copy without Size Check — weakness family: Memory safety.CWE assignment from the public NVD record; the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
NVD ↗Reported
02

Who’s exploiting it?

— attribution turns risk into urgency
Attribution not established

No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.

03

Why it matters

— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board
1

Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1

Attacker
I craft a malicious request to the VPN web server that overflows a buffer and injects shellcode.
Business
Perimeter security is compromised, enabling lateral movement into the protected network.
2

Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2

Attacker
I gain code execution on the firewall appliance with the privileges of the web server process.
Business
Attackers obtain a foothold to pivot deeper into infrastructure or exfiltrate traffic passing through the firewall.
3

Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3

Attacker
I chain this vulnerability with CVE-2025-20362 to escalate privileges or bypass additional security controls.
Business
Complete compromise of the firewall enables full network visibility and control over encrypted VPN traffic.
04

What to do

— defensible action
  • Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05

Coverage & confidence

— what we know, and what we don’t

Established (cited)

  • KEV listing (CISA)
  • EPSS probability (FIRST)
  • 26 reported-exploitation source(s)
  • CWE weakness mapping (NVD)
  • Catalogued by cisco (CNA)
  • Coverage gaps — stated, not hidden

  • No EUVD / GCVE mirror in feed — single-authority dependency for the identifier.
  • EPSS & exposure are time-varying; verify live at the source.
  • Threat-actor attribution not established from feed data — absence of a name is not absence of compromise.
  • No finder/reporter credit recorded in the public CVE entry — the work behind this find is unattributed.
  • Disclosure & credit2
    Catalogued by ciscoCNA
    Credited with finding itNo finder named in the public CVE record — the work behind this find is unattributed.