CVE-2024-20481: in the CISA KEV catalogue
Cisco ASA and FTD Denial-of-Service Vulnerability. CISA added CVE-2024-20481 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on 2024-10-24 with a default due date of 2024-11-14. Known ransomware campaign use: Unknown. Forensic triage flag: No.
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) contain a missing release of resource after effective lifetime vulnerability that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial-of-service (DoS) of the RAVPN service. (CISA description)
- Vendor / product
- Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Firepower Threat Defense (FTD)
- CWE
- CWE-772
- CISA required action
- Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
- EPSS
- 16%, percentile 96 (scored 2026-11-03)
EPSS puts about 16 in 100 odds (16%) on exploitation activity being observed in the next 30 days. Its score is higher than or equal to that of 96% of scored CVEs. This is a model estimate about exploitation anywhere, not about your environment.
Vendor and reference links (from CISA)
Your own deadline under CISA BOD 26-04 depends on exposure, automatability and technical impact: work it out with the BOD 26-04 calculator.
Frequently asked questions
Is CVE-2024-20481 in the CISA KEV catalogue?
Yes. CISA added CVE-2024-20481 (Cisco ASA and FTD Denial-of-Service Vulnerability) to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on 2024-10-24. CISA's default due date for it is 2024-11-14.
Is CVE-2024-20481 used in ransomware attacks?
CISA marks known ransomware campaign use as Unknown for CVE-2024-20481. That means CISA lacks confirmation, not that ransomware groups do not use it.
What should I do about CVE-2024-20481?
CISA's required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Sources
- CISA, Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog (accessed 2026-11-03)
- FIRST, Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS) (EPSS by FIRST; scores generated by Empirical Security)
- NVD record for CVE-2024-20481