Severity by source
AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Adjacent management-segment access (AV:A) and the sftunnel-down race condition justify AC:H; no auth or interaction (PR:N/UI:N); peer impersonation compromises the managed devices (S:C) at root (C/I/A:H).
Primary rating from Vendor (cisco).
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
3DescriptionNVD
A vulnerability in the sftunnel inter-device communication protocol of Cisco Secure FMC Software and Cisco Secure FTD Software could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to impersonate the peer device and obtain access at the level of the manager role, which is equivalent to root.
This vulnerability is due to improper management of the TLS certificate for the sftunnel management connection. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by connecting to the sftunnel port using a crafted TLS certificate. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to become a registered sftunnel peer with root access. Note: The attack is successful only if the sftunnel connection is down or the attack can disrupt the sftunnel connection long enough to execute the attack.
AnalysisAI
Unauthenticated adjacent attackers who can reach the sftunnel inter-device management channel can impersonate the peer device and register as an sftunnel peer on Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) and Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Software, gaining manager-role privileges equivalent to root. Because the flaw is improper TLS certificate management in the protocol itself, default configurations are affected and no authentication or user interaction is required, but the attack only succeeds if the sftunnel connection is already down or can be disrupted long enough for the crafted-certificate handshake to complete (scored CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H, 8.3). …
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Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata
Vulnerability AssessmentAI
| Exploitation | Exploitation requires adjacent access to the sftunnel inter-device management channel between a Cisco Secure FMC and its managed FTD devices (AV:A) - the attacker must be able to reach the sftunnel port on the same or a reachable management segment. … Additional conditions and limiting factors are described in the full assessment. |
| Risk Assessment | This is a genuinely serious flaw that warrants prioritized patching, though not an automatic emergency. … Full risk analysis with EPSS, KEV, and SSVC signal comparison available after sign-in. |
| Exploit Scenario | Full exploit scenario with step-by-step reproduction available after sign-in. |
| Remediation | Patch status for this CVE is not confirmed from the data provided; Cisco has not published an exact fixed version in the supplied sources, so administrators should consult the vendor advisory at https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-fmcftd-sftun-multivulns-WGVHOrN3 for the current fixed-release matrix and apply the recommended upgrade to both FMC and its managed FTD devices, since the sftunnel protocol is implemented on both sides. … Detailed patch versions, workarounds, and compensating controls in full report. |
Recommended ActionAI
Within 24 hours, inventory all Cisco FMC and FTD deployments, confirm whether the sftunnel management channel is reachable from any adjacent network segment, and implement network-level restrictions so that sftunnel traffic (TCP 8305) is permitted only between known peer devices on a dedicated, isolated out-of-band management network; increase monitoring and alerting on sftunnel reconnection events and unexpected peer registrations. …
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Same weakness CWE-295 – Improper Certificate Validation
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External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today
EUVD-2026-81139
GHSA-f2cp-mvp8-7wp4