Introduction to asav9-18-4-40.zip Software

The ​​asav9-18-4-40.zip​​ package contains Cisco’s Adaptive Security Virtual Appliance (ASAv) software version 9.18(4)40, designed for enterprise-grade network security in virtualized infrastructure. Released in Q4 2024, this iteration focuses on enhanced cryptographic compliance and cloud workload protection, specifically targeting VMware vSphere 8.0U2+ and KVM-based hypervisors. As part of Cisco’s Secure Firewall 4200 series software ecosystem, it provides stateful firewall services, VPN termination, and threat defense capabilities equivalent to physical ASA 5500-X appliances.

This release maintains backward compatibility with Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center 7.4.1+ while introducing native integration with Kubernetes ingress controllers for containerized environments. The virtual appliance supports security context segmentation with up to 50 virtual interfaces per instance.

Key Features and Improvements

Security Enhancements

  • ​​FIPS 140-3 Compliance​​: Updated cryptographic modules for AES-GCM-256 and SHA-384 hashing algorithms
  • ​​IPsec Stability Fixes​​: Resolved session collision issues identified in CVE-2023-20126 through improved IKEv2 queue management
  • ​​TLS 1.3 Hardware Acceleration​​: 45% throughput improvement on Intel Ice Lake-D processors with QAT 2.0

Operational Improvements

  • ​​vCPU Hot-Swap​​: Dynamic resource scaling from 4-24 vCPUs without service interruption
  • ​​Smart Licensing 4.2​​: Automated certificate rotation through Cisco Secure Control Plane
  • ​​Nested Virtualization Support​​: Verified operation under Microsoft Hyper-V 2022 clusters

Compatibility and Requirements

Supported Platforms

Component Requirements
Hypervisor VMware ESXi 8.0U2+, KVM (RHEL 9.2+), Nutanix AHV 6.7+
Host CPU Intel Xeon Ice Lake-SP+ with AVX-512, AMD EPYC Genoa
Memory 16GB base + 4GB per security context
Storage 150GB thin-provisioned disk (OVA/QCOW2 format)

Restrictions

  • SR-IOV passthrough requires Mellanox ConnectX-6 DX adapters
  • Incompatible with OpenStack Zed release due to Libvirt 8.0 API changes
  • Cluster failover disabled when using AWS Nitro Hypervisor

Licensing and Distribution

The asav9-18-4-40.zip package requires active subscription to either:

  • ​​ASAv Premier License​​: Includes Threat Defense and URL Filtering
  • ​​Secure Firewall Essentials​​: Base throughput licensing (100Mbps-10Gbps tiers)

Authorized redistribution mandates valid Cisco Service Contract (CSC) verification. For entitlement confirmation and secure package retrieval, visit https://www.ioshub.net to initiate the validation process with certified support personnel. SHA-512 checksums and PGP signatures are available upon license authentication.

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