CVE-2020-3533
Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software SNMP Denial of Service Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) input packet processor of Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to restart unexpectedly. The vulnerability is due to a lack of sufficient memory management protections under heavy SNMP polling loads. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a high rate of SNMP requests to the SNMP daemon through the management interface on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the SNMP daemon process to consume a large amount of system memory over time, which could then lead to an unexpected device restart, causing a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability affects all versions of SNMP.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
8.6
Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software SNMP Denial of Service Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) input packet processor of Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to restart unexpectedly. The vulnerability is due to a lack of sufficient memory management protections under heavy SNMP polling loads. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a high rate of SNMP requests to the SNMP daemon through the management interface on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the SNMP daemon process to consume a large amount of system memory over time, which could then lead to an unexpected device restart, causing a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability affects all versions of SNMP.
- Record
CVE-2020-3533- CVSS 3.1
- 8.6 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2020-24804
8.6
A vulnerability in the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) input packet processor of Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to restart unexpectedly. The vulnerability is due to a lack of sufficient memory management protections under heavy SNMP polling loads. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a high rate of SNMP requests to the SNMP daemon through the management interface on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the SNMP daemon process to consume a large amount of system memory over time, which could then lead to an unexpected device restart, causing a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability affects all versions of SNMP.
- Record
EUVD-2020-24804- CVSS 3.1
- 8.6 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-78fc-hxwx-qqwj
7.5
A vulnerability in the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) input packet processor of Cisco...
A vulnerability in the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) input packet processor of Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to restart unexpectedly. The vulnerability is due to a lack of sufficient memory management protections under heavy SNMP polling loads. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a high rate of SNMP requests to the SNMP daemon through the management interface on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the SNMP daemon process to consume a large amount of system memory over time, which could then lead to an unexpected device restart, causing a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability affects all versions of SNMP.
- Record
GHSA-78fc-hxwx-qqwj- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
8.6
A vulnerability in the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) input packet processor of Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to restart unexpectedly. The vulnerability is due to a lack of sufficient memory management protections under heavy SNMP polling loads. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a high rate of SNMP requests to the SNMP daemon through the management interface on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the SNMP daemon process to consume a large amount of system memory over time, which could then lead to an unexpected device restart, causing a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability affects all versions of SNMP.
- Record
CVE-2020-3533- CVSS 3.1
- 8.6 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H - CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 5.0 Medium
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| facts | ||
| aliases, published | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2020-3533 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.6) in Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software, published October 21, 2020. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.78%, the 78th percentile. No source names a fixed version.