CVE-2022-20751
Published: 03 May 2022
Summary
CVE-2022-20751 is a high-severity Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling (CWE-770) vulnerability in Cisco Firepower Threat Defense. Its CVSS base score is 8.6 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 25.8% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2022-26001
Vulnerability details
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.…
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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.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
This control implements explicit throttling on session allocation, addressing the weakness of allocating resources without limits.
Plan testing exercises resource allocation limits and throttling during simulated failures, directly addressing weaknesses that allow unbounded resource use.
Contingency plan updates ensure recovery strategies address unbounded resource allocation, making it harder for attackers to exploit lack of throttling to cause prolonged outages.
Provides continuity when unbounded resource allocation at the primary site leads to exhaustion and downtime.
Alternate services allow operations to continue when primary allocation of resources lacks limits or throttling.
Explicit planning of security-related actions requires defining limits, windows, and resource allocations, making allocation without throttling far less likely.
Measures of performance include tracking allocation behavior and throttling effectiveness, reducing the window for resource exhaustion attacks.
Imposes an inactivity-based limit on network resource allocation, throttling the number of concurrently held connections.