Firepower Threat Defense
CVE-2022-20751
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Resource allocation limits
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could exhaust system resources through uncontrolled allocation by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
A vulnerability in the Snort detection engine integration for Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause unlimited memory consumption,. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
RemediationAI
No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Set resource limits, implement rate limiting, validate input sizes.
Affects your stack
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Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Allocation of Resources Without Limits (CWE-770), which allows attackers to exhaust system resources through uncontrolled allocation. A vulnerability in the Snort detection engine integration for Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause unlimited memory consumption, which could lead to a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient memory management for certain Snort events. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a series of crafted IP packets that would generate specific Snort events on an affected device. A sustained attack could cause an out of memory condition on the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to interrupt all traffic flowing through the affected device. In some circumstances, the attacker may be able to cause the device to reload, resulting in a DoS condition. Affected products include: Cisco Firepower Threat Defense.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
A vulnerability in the Snort detection engine integration for Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause unlimited memory consumption, which could lead to a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient memory management for certain Snort events. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a series of crafted IP packets that would generate specific Snort events on an affected device. A sustained attack could cause an out of memory condition on the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to interrupt all traffic flowing through the affected device. In some circumstances, the attacker may be able to cause the device to reload, resulting in a DoS condition.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
VulDB
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
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GitHub PoC
Exploit-DB