CVE-2024-20379

Path Traversal in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center 7.3.0 … 7.3.1.2

Path Traversal

Published

23 October 2024

Modified

26 November 2024

Patch / advisory

View advisory

CVSS Score v3.1 6.5

Click a component to see what it means

Raw vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

EPSS Score 0.0062 49th percentile

Risk Priority 51 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2024-20379 is a medium-severity Absolute Path Traversal (CWE-36) vulnerability in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked at the 49th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-18094

Vulnerability Data

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 read arbitrary files from the underlying operating system. This vulnerability exists because the…

web-based management interface does not properly validate user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to read arbitrary files on the underlying operating system of the affected device. The attacker would need valid user credentials to exploit this vulnerability.

CWE(s): CWE-36 CWE-22

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001 Data Obfuscation Command And Control

Adversaries may obfuscate command and control traffic to make it more difficult to detect.

attack.mitre.org →

T1001.001 Junk Data Command And Control

Adversaries may add junk data to protocols used for command and control to make detection more difficult.

attack.mitre.org →

T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control

Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.

attack.mitre.org →

T1003.002 Security Account Manager Credential Access

Adversaries may attempt to extract credential material from the Security Account Manager (SAM) database either through in-memory techniques or through the Windows Registry where the SAM database is stored.

attack.mitre.org →

T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access

Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.

attack.mitre.org →

T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access

Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.

attack.mitre.org →

Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-20220Same product: Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center

CVE-2026-20148Same vendor: Cisco

CVE-2025-20374Same vendor: Cisco

CVE-2015-0666Same vendor: Cisco

CVE-2024-20527Same vendor: Cisco

CVE-2025-20344Same vendor: Cisco

CVE-2026-20180Same vendor: Cisco

CVE-2024-20529Same vendor: Cisco

CVE-2025-20277Same vendor: Cisco

CVE-2026-20262Same vendor: Cisco

Affected Assets

cisco

firepower management center

7.4.0, 7.4.1, 7.4.1.1

cisco

secure firewall management center

7.3.0, 7.3.1, 7.3.1.1, 7.3.1.2

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent

Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect

Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden

Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate

Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

V5.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match

Enforces the intended directory access authorizations that path traversal would otherwise bypass.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

Input validation directly stops construction of absolute paths from untrusted data before they reach file operations.

AC-6 Least Privilege partial match

Least privilege reduces the impact of any unauthorized file access obtained via traversal.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-02 partial match

blocks

Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.

PR.PS-06 partial match

blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly require input validation and path sanitization that prevent absolute path traversal.

PR.AA-05 none match

blocks

PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.14 Information transfer partial match

removes

A.5.15 Access control partial match

removes

A.5.16 Identity management partial match

removes

A.5.17 Authentication information partial match

removes

A.5.18 Access rights partial match

removes

A.8.10 Information deletion partial match

removes