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CVE-2023-20009· NVD / CVE Program· CNA cisco

A vulnerability in the Web UI and administrative CLI of the Cisco Secure Email Gateway (ESA) and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager (SMA) co

A vulnerability in the Web UI and administrative CLI of the Cisco Secure Email Gateway (ESA) and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager (SMA) could allow an authenticated remote attacker and or authenticated local attacker to escalate their privilege level and gain root access. The attacker has to have a valid user credential with at least a [[privilege of operator - validate actual name]]. The vulnerability is due to the processing of a specially crafted SNMP configuration file. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the targeted device and uploading a specially crafted SNMP configuration file that when uploaded could allow for the execution of commands as root. An exploit could allow the attacker to gain root access on the device.

HighCVSS 7.2 · v3.1—Proof of concept No fix recorded
Published
Mar 1, 2023
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
1.3% · 69th percentile
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Action score

28

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
28 / 40 · 7.2 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 1.3%

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
7.2
CNA · cisco
6.5
0.7 point gap

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Affected systems

VendorProduct
ciscoemail security appliance
ciscosecure email and web manager

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • cisco email security appliancebefore 12.5.3-041
  • cisco email security appliance13.0.0 and later · before 13.0.5-007
  • cisco email security appliance13.5.0 and later · before 13.5.4-038
  • cisco email security appliance14.0.0 and later · before 14.2.1-020
  • cisco email security appliance14.3.0 and later · before 14.3.0-032
  • cisco secure email and web managerbefore 12.8.1-021
  • cisco secure email and web manager13.8.0 and later · before 13.8.1-108
  • cisco secure email and web manager14.0.0 and later · before 14.2.0-224
  • cisco secure email and web manager14.3.0 and later · before 14.3.0-120

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (cisco). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Cisco Cisco Secure Email

    • 11.0.3-238, 11.1.0-069, 11.1.0-131, 11.1.0-128, 12.0.0-419, 12.1.0-071, 12.1.0-087, 12.1.0-089, 13.0.0-392, 13.5.1-277, 12.5.0-066, 14.0.0-698 … (+1)affected

  • Cisco Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager

    • 11.0.0-115, 11.0.1-161, 11.5.1-105, 12.0.0-452, 12.0.1-011, 12.5.0-636, 12.5.0-658, 12.5.0-678, 12.5.0-670, 13.0.0-277, 13.6.2-078, 13.8.1-068 … (+6)affected

Same product

cisco: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2022-20798Cisco Email Security Appliance and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager External Authentication Bypass Vulnerability
    39Monitor
  • CVE-2019-1947Cisco Email Security Appliance Denial of Service Vulnerability
    35Monitor
  • CVE-2015-6291Cisco AsyncOS before 8.5.7-043, 9.x before 9.1.1-023, and 9.5.x and 9.6.x before 9.6.0-046 on Email Security Appliance (ESA) devices mishand
    32Monitor
  • CVE-2018-0419A vulnerability in certain attachment detection mechanisms of Cisco Email Security Appliances (ESA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote a
    31Monitor
  • CVE-2016-6360A vulnerability in Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) for Cisco Email Security Appliances (ESA) and Web Security Appliances (WSA) could allow
    31Monitor
  • CVE-2016-6358A vulnerability in local FTP to the Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a partial
    31Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

Proof of concept available

A public proof of concept or detection signature exists. Exploit knowledge is out there; don't delay patching.

Evidence

  • Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub ×1

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
SourceKindDate
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:12026-07-07

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

  1. Published
  2. First PoC+1224 d
  3. TodaySep 30, 2026+1310 d
EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • Administrator privileges are required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-20 · Improper Input Validation

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Noroxi analysis

No Noroxi analysis for this record yet

We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.

We use this product, ask for help

Change log

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

References

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records