Cisco Secure Email Gateway and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager Remote Command Execution Vulnerability
Affects Cisco Secure Email and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager when Spam Quarantine is configured and reachable from the internet on a vulnerable AsyncOS release. No vendor rating or fixed release is in the checked facts.
- Published
- Last modified
- Where the record stands: published, rejected by its publisher, or superseded by another id.What do these mean? →
- published
- Whether CISA lists it in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog: proof that attackers are using it.What do these mean? →
- Listed in CISA KEV
- How many real-world setups can hit the bug, from the vendor's advisory and CISA data. It does not know your setup.What do these mean? →
- Actively exploited
- Whether working attack code is public (Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei or GitHub). Public code makes attacks easier.What do these mean? →
- None on Exploit-DB, Metasploit or GitHub
- Exploitation: active
- Automatable: yes
- Technical impact: total
Summary
Cisco Secure Email Gateway and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager, which run Cisco AsyncOS Software, are affected through their Spam Quarantine feature. An unauthenticated remote attacker could exploit this flaw to run arbitrary system commands with root privileges, giving them full control of the affected device.
Summarized by anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5. Verify details against the original sources.
Read the original description
A vulnerability in the Spam Quarantine feature of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Secure Email Gateway and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary system commands on an affected device with root privileges. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of HTTP requests by the Spam Quarantine feature. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system with root privileges.
Timeline
- Added to CISA KEV
CISA has evidence of exploitation in the wild
- CVE published
- CISA SSVC assessment
Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: total
- CISA remediation deadline
Due date for US federal agencies to patch
- Record last updated
- EPSS reached 10%
FIRST estimates at least a 10% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Affected versions
- Cisco Cisco Secure Email
14.0.0-698, 13.5.1-277, 13.0.0-392, 14.2.0-620, 13.0.5-007, 13.5.4-038, 14.2.1-020, 14.3.0-032, 15.0.0-104, 15.0.1-030, 15.5.0-048, 15.5.1-055, 15.5.2-018, 16.0.0-050, 15.0.3-002, 16.0.0-054, 15.5.3-022, 16.0.1-017
- Cisco Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager
13.6.2-023, 13.6.2-078, 13.0.0-249, 13.0.0-277, 13.8.1-052, 13.8.1-068, 13.8.1-074, 14.0.0-404, 12.8.1-002, 14.1.0-227, 13.6.1-201, 14.2.0-203, 14.2.0-212, 12.8.1-021, 13.8.1-108, 14.2.0-224, 14.3.0-120, 15.0.0-334, 15.5.1-024, 15.5.1-029, 15.5.2-005, 16.0.0-195, 15.5.3-017, 16.0.1-010, 15.0.1-035, 16.0.2-088
References 1
sec.cloudapps.cisco.com
Questions about CVE-2025-20393
What does this mean?
The bug lets arbitrary system commands run on the underlying operating system of the appliance, with root privileges. The impact is remote, through the Spam Quarantine feature.Source: sec.cloudapps.cisco.com
Am I affected, and how do I check?
Affected appliances must have the Spam Quarantine feature configured, have that feature exposed to and reachable from the internet, and run a vulnerable release of Cisco AsyncOS Software. The checked facts do not list specific vulnerable version numbers, so check the AsyncOS release and the Spam Quarantine settings on the appliance against Cisco's advisory.Source: sec.cloudapps.cisco.com
What should I do about it?
The checked facts do not name a fixed release, so no upgrade target is given. Check Cisco's advisory for the fixed AsyncOS release.Source: sec.cloudapps.cisco.com
Is it being exploited?
Yes. CISA added it to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2025-12-17, which means it has evidence of attacks. No public exploit code is tracked.Source: cisa.gov, cve.now feed data
What if there's no patch?
The checked facts list no workaround. Removing internet reachability from the Spam Quarantine feature would remove one of the required conditions, but the facts do not confirm this as an official mitigation.Source: sec.cloudapps.cisco.com