CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2019-15992 — Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance security vulnerability

High CVSS 9

A vulnerability in the implementation of the Lua interpreter integrated in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary code with root privileges on the underlying Linux operating system of an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient restrictions on the allowed Lua function calls within the context of user-supplied Lua scripts. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to trigger a heap overflow condition and execute arbitrary code with root privileges on the underlying Linux operating system of an affected device.

Severity
High
CVSS
9 (2.0)
Published
2020-09-23
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-119, CWE-787

Affected products

  • cisco / adaptive_security_appliance
  • cisco / adaptive_security_appliance_software
  • cisco / secure_firewall_management_center

Showing 3 representative product identities from 13 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Buffer bounds, memory safety, and memory corruption

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Check exposure

  • Identify affected native-code versions, build flags, architectures, parsers, codecs, drivers, and input paths in all shipped artifacts.
  • Determine whether untrusted data reaches the affected routine and the process privilege, sandbox, and network exposure.
  • Confirm statically linked, vendored, firmware, and platform-provided copies, not only package-manager records.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the maintained upstream correction or replace the affected component, then rebuild every dependent artifact from clean inputs.
  • Adopt bounds-checked interfaces, validated sizes and integer conversions, clear ownership, and memory-safe components where practical.
  • Enable supported compiler and runtime hardening and add sanitized tests and fuzz regression seeds derived from non-weaponized fixtures.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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