A vulnerability in the email message scanning feature of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a temporary denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to inadequate parsing mechanisms for specific email body components. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malicious email containing a high number of shortened URLs through an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to consume processing resources, causing a DoS condition on an affected device. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, certain conditions beyond the control of the attacker must occur.
This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.9, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network but requires specific conditions to be met without requiring user interaction and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 2 products from cisco, from cisco organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.
Reported in 2020, this vulnerability emerged during an era marked by increased sophistication in supply chain attacks, cloud infrastructure vulnerabilities, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) security challenges. Security practices during this period emphasized zero-trust architectures, container security, and API protection.
2020-02-19T20:15:14.957
2024-11-21T05:30:23.547
Modified
CVSSv3.1: 5.9 (MEDIUM)
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C
8.6
6.9
| Type | Vendor | Product | Version/Range | Vulnerable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application | cisco | cloud_email_security | < 12.5.1-037 | Yes |
| Application | cisco | email_security_appliance | < 12.5.1-037 | Yes |
| Application | cisco | cloud_email_security | < 13.0.0-375 | Yes |
| Application | cisco | email_security_appliance | < 13.0.0-375 | Yes |
SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For cisco's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.