A vulnerability in the email scanning algorithm of Cisco AsyncOS software for Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack against an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation of incoming emails. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted email through Cisco ESA. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust all the available CPU resources on an affected device for an extended period of time, preventing other emails from being processed and resulting in a DoS condition.
This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.5, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 12 products from cisco, from cisco, from cisco and 9 others, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.
Reported in 2021, 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.
2021-11-04T16:15:08.660
2024-11-21T06:11:05.927
Modified
CVSSv3.1: 7.5 (HIGH)
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
10.0
2.9
| Type | Vendor | Product | Version/Range | Vulnerable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating System | cisco | asyncos | < 13.0.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | cisco | asyncos | 13.5.3-010 | Yes |
| Operating System | cisco | asyncos | 13.7.0-093 | Yes |
| Hardware | cisco | m170 | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | m190 | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | m380 | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | m390 | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | m390x | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | m680 | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | m690 | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | m690x | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | s195 | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | s395 | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | s695 | - | No |
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.