Field Notice: FN70476 - ASA5508 and ASA5516 Security Appliances Might Fail After 18 Months or Longer Due to a Damaged Component - Replace on Failure

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Updated:May 7, 2025
Document ID:FN70476

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Medium
Impact Rating:
Medium
First Published:
2020-Apr-27
Last Published:
2025-May-07
Revision:
1.4
Cisco Bug IDs:

Notice

THIS FIELD NOTICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS AND DOES NOT IMPLY ANY KIND OF GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY, INCLUDING THE WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY. YOUR USE OF THE INFORMATION ON THE FIELD NOTICE OR MATERIALS LINKED FROM THE FIELD NOTICE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. CISCO RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHANGE OR UPDATE THIS FIELD NOTICE AT ANY TIME.

Products Affected


Affected Product Name Description Comments
ASA5508-FTD-K9 ASA 5508-X with Firepower Threat Defense, 8GE, AC  
ASA5508-K8 ASA 5508-X with FirePOWER services, 8GE, AC, DES  
ASA5508-K9 ASA 5508-X with FirePOWER services, 8GE, AC, 3DES/AES  
ASA5516-FPWR-K8 ASA 5516-X with FirePOWER services, 8GE, AC, DES  
ASA5516-FPWR-K9 ASA 5516-X with FirePOWER services, 8GE, AC, 3DES/AES  
ASA5516-FTD-K9 ASA 5516-X with Firepower Threat Defense, 8GE, AC  




Defect Information


Defect IDHeadline
CSCvt82285ASA5508 and ASA5516 might fail after 18+ months due to a component damaged during manufacturing

Problem Description


The Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) ASA5508 and ASA5516 might fail in operation, after 18 months or longer, due to a damaged component.


Background


Due to a manufacturing process issue, some ASA5508 and ASA5516 security appliances might have a damaged resistor component. The affected units were manufactured between 2017-05-18 and 2017-08-25.

Security appliances with a damaged resistor will function normally on installation and product failures are expected to increase over time beginning after the unit has been in operation for approximately 18 months. Once the security appliance has failed the unit will no longer function, will not boot, and is not recoverable.


Problem Symptom


The security appliance no longer functions and the system fails to boot. There will be no output from the console port.

In addition, the LED status indicators on the security appliance illuminate as follows:

  • Power LED is green
  • Status LED is amber and blinking

Workaround/Solution


Customers with affected products (see the How to Identify Affected Products section) should contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) to request a replacement unit. A valid Cisco support contract is required to open a TAC Service Request.

For customers that request replacements, note that the license activation key is tied to the ASA chassis serial number. Contact the Cisco Licensing Team in order to have your current license transferred to the replacement chassis serial number. The Cisco Licensing Team will ask for the Product Authorization Key reference number and current serial number. Additional information in regards to ASA licensing can be referenced in the Cisco ASA Series General Operations CLI Configuration Guide, 9.6.


How to Identify Affected Products


In order to determine whether your product might be affected by this issue, examine the chassis serial number of the security appliance.

The chassis serial number can be obtained from the CLI or through visual inspection of the security appliance. For units that have already failed due to this issue, a visual inspection of the security appliance or review of the Sales Order documentation is required.

CLI

Enter the show inventory command to obtain the chassis serial number (SN) of the appliance:

asa> show inventory

Name: "Chassis", DESCR: "ASA 5508-X with FirePOWER services, 8GE, AC, DES"

PID: ASA5508 , VID: V01 , SN: JMX1234ABCD

Note: In order to avoid Cisco bug ID CSCtz56314 (ASA5500-X Chassis Serial Number Not Visible from CLI), do not use the show version command.

Visual Inspection of the ASA Security Appliance

The serial number information is located on the bottom surface of the appliance.


Serial Number Validation


Cisco provides the Serial Number Validation Tool to verify whether a device is impacted by this issue. To check the device, enter the serial number in the Serial Number Validation Tool.

Important: For security reasons, you must click the Serial Number Validation Tool link that is provided in this section. Do not copy and paste the link into a browser. Use of the Serial Number Validation Tool URL external to this field notice will fail.

Revision History


VersionDescriptionSectionDate
1.4Updated the solution.Workaround/Solution2025-MAY-07
1.3Updated the Upgrade Program Information to use Support Case Manager (SCM).Upgrade Program Information2023-JUL-24
1.2Updated the Serial Number Validation Section.—2020-JUL-20
1.1Updated the Upgrade Program Section.—2020-APR-29
1.0Initial Release—2020-APR-27

For More Information

For further assistance or for more information about this field notice, contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) using one of the following methods:

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