CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2024-20424 — Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center security vulnerability

Critical CVSS 9.9

A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software, formerly Firepower Management Center Software, could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system as root. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation of certain HTTP requests. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the web-based management interface of an affected device and then sending a crafted HTTP request to the device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands with root permissions on the underlying operating system of the Cisco FMC device or to execute commands on managed Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) devices. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker would need valid credentials for a user account with at least the role of Security Analyst (Read Only).

Severity
Critical
CVSS
9.9 (3.1)
Published
2024-10-23
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-78

Affected products

  • cisco / secure_firewall_management_center / 6.2.3
  • cisco / secure_firewall_management_center / 6.2.3.1
  • cisco / secure_firewall_management_center / 6.2.3.2
  • cisco / secure_firewall_management_center / 6.2.3.3
  • cisco / secure_firewall_management_center / 6.2.3.4
  • cisco / secure_firewall_management_center / 6.2.3.5

Showing 6 representative product identities from 92 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Command, code, expression, and template injection

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Check exposure

  • Trace untrusted values to process execution, interpreters, evaluators, template engines, dynamic imports, and administrative scripting features.
  • Determine whether the affected path is reachable across each trust boundary and which service account or host privilege it inherits.
  • Review configuration for optional execution features, unsafe compatibility modes, and shell invocation.

Remediate safely

  • Replace string-built commands or evaluated code with fixed operations and structured argument APIs that do not invoke a shell.
  • Use strict allowlists for operation identifiers and reject unexpected input before it reaches any interpreter.
  • Update the affected component and add inert regression tests covering metacharacters, encoding variants, and alternate request paths.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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