CVE-2020-3187 | Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software and Firepower Threat Defense Software Web Services Path Traversal Vulnerability

Exp

A vulnerability in the web services interface of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct directory traversal attacks and obtain read and delete access to sensitive files on a targeted system. The vulnerability is due to a lack of proper input validation of the HTTP URL. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request containing directory traversal character sequences. An exploit could allow the attacker to view or delete arbitrary files on the targeted system. When the device is reloaded after exploitation of this vulnerability, any files that were deleted are restored. The attacker can only view and delete files within the web services file system. This file system is enabled when the affected device is configured with either WebVPN or AnyConnect features. This vulnerability can not be used to obtain access to ASA or FTD system files or underlying operating system (OS) files. Reloading the affected device will restore all files within the web services file system.

Published: 2020-05-06 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-3187 is rated High Exploit Risk (87.1/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 94.34%, 100th percentile). Core evidence: 2 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2020-3187

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
48723 exploit_db edb 2020-07-29 Exploit-DB ↗
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-3187

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-11-21 93.65% 94.34% +0.69%
2 2025-11-18 94.30% 93.65% -0.65%
3 2025-11-04 94.30%

Full EPSS history (35 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-3187

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.1 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.9 5.2 [email protected]
9.1 3.0 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.9 5.2 [email protected]
7.5 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
10.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-3187

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-3187

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
cisco firepower_threat_defense >= 6.2.3, < 6.2.3.16 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:firepower_threat_defense:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco firepower_threat_defense >= 6.3.0, < 6.3.0.6 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:firepower_threat_defense:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco firepower_threat_defense >= 6.4.0, < 6.4.0.8 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:firepower_threat_defense:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco firepower_threat_defense >= 6.5.0, < 6.5.0.4 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:firepower_threat_defense:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco asa_5505_firmware 9.6\(4\) cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asa_5505_firmware:9.6\(4\):*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco asa_5510_firmware 9.6\(4\) cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asa_5510_firmware:9.6\(4\):*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco asa_5512-x_firmware 9.6\(4\) cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asa_5512-x_firmware:9.6\(4\):*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco asa_5515-x_firmware 9.6\(4\) cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asa_5515-x_firmware:9.6\(4\):*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco asa_5520_firmware 9.6\(4\) cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asa_5520_firmware:9.6\(4\):*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco asa_5525-x_firmware 9.6\(4\) cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asa_5525-x_firmware:9.6\(4\):*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco asa_5540_firmware 9.6\(4\) cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asa_5540_firmware:9.6\(4\):*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco asa_5545-x_firmware 9.6\(4\) cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asa_5545-x_firmware:9.6\(4\):*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco asa_5550_firmware 9.6\(4\) cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asa_5550_firmware:9.6\(4\):*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco asa_5555-x_firmware 9.6\(4\) cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asa_5555-x_firmware:9.6\(4\):*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco asa_5580_firmware 9.6\(4\) cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asa_5580_firmware:9.6\(4\):*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco asa_5585-x_firmware 9.6\(4\) cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asa_5585-x_firmware:9.6\(4\):*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco adaptive_security_appliance_software >= 9.6, < 9.6.4.40 cpe:2.3:o:cisco:adaptive_security_appliance_software:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco adaptive_security_appliance_software >= 9.8, < 9.8.4.15 cpe:2.3:o:cisco:adaptive_security_appliance_software:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco adaptive_security_appliance_software >= 9.9, < 9.9.2.66 cpe:2.3:o:cisco:adaptive_security_appliance_software:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco adaptive_security_appliance_software >= 9.10, < 9.10.1.37 cpe:2.3:o:cisco:adaptive_security_appliance_software:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco adaptive_security_appliance_software >= 9.12, < 9.12.3.2 cpe:2.3:o:cisco:adaptive_security_appliance_software:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco adaptive_security_appliance_software >= 9.13, < 9.13.1.7 cpe:2.3:o:cisco:adaptive_security_appliance_software:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-3187

cvelogic Threat Intelligence