The process com.cisco.anyconnect.macos.acsockext hogs Mac CPU but cannot be killed or stopped from launching

MacBookPro16,1 running Big Sur 11.3.1 (20E241)

This job consumes huge amounts of CPU off and on (see attached image from my Activity Monitor), often causing my laptop fans to engage to cool the processor. This is generally when the App itself (Anyconnect) is not running. The program launches automatically and relaunches every time I kill it, restart, etc. I have tried fancier things like removing the Cisco elements from launch directories etc, but it does not have any effect.

There are several discussions online about this problem, but none of the proposed solutions have helped me:

Stop Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client from starting up automatically

https://dannyda.com/2020/10/28/how-to-disable-cisco-anyconnect-secure-mobility-client-autostart-on-macos-stop-cisco-anyconnect-start-on-boot-on-macos/

I've tried all the solutions I've found online (including those in the above links), but nothing stops it. Only uninstalling AnyConnect works, but I need the Cisco VPN to work remotely with my organization.

Anyone worked this out (for real?)

t3s

Press Don't allow When Cisco asks Cisco AnyConnect Socket Filter” Would Like to Filter Network Content.

If you do so it creates Network Settings that automatically launches this CPU-consuming com.cisco.anyconnect.macos.acsockext.

To revert it :

1. Go to System Preferences -> Network
2. Observe several instances starting with Cisco.. next to Wi-Fi
3. Delete all of them with - button beneath
4. Press Apply
5. If any Cisco instances appears again, delete it again; Press Apply
6. Check for com.cisco.anyconnect.macos.acsockext in Activity Monitor and kill it if needed
7. NEVER! Allow Cisco to Filter Network Content again (for some reason it lacks of Don't ask again checkbox)

I think I’ve found a fix.

1. Go into the Applications folder and open the Cisco folder.

2. Delete the Cisco Socket Filter application but NOT the Anyconnect client.

I’ve not had the issue since and the VPN is working fine.

If you are using AnyConnect 4.10.x, I encountered the same problem and it was temporarily resolved by reverting back to version 4.9.06037

If your 4.9.x client automatically updates, you can set bypassDownloader to be true in /opt/cisco/anyconnect/AnyConnectLocalPolicy.xml to keep it at 4.9.x

In addition to Nikitas answer, you should also remove the system extension:

1. Go to CMD

2. Execute

   systemextensionsctl list
   

3. Look for TEAMID for BUNDLEID com.cisco.anyconnect.macos.acsockext

4. Execute

   sudo systemextensionsctl uninstall TEAMID com.cisco.anyconnect.macos.acsockext
   

Note: As of September 1, 2020, running the systemextensionsctl uninstall command requires System Integrity Protection (SIP) to be disabled. This limitation is supposed to be removed by Apple at some point in the very near future.