First published: Wed Jan 09 2019(Updated: )
A vulnerability in the Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) Decryption and Verification or S/MIME Public Key Harvesting features of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to corrupt system memory. A successful exploit could cause the filtering process to unexpectedly reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition on the device. The vulnerability is due to improper input validation of S/MIME-signed emails. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malicious S/MIME-signed email through a targeted device. If Decryption and Verification or Public Key Harvesting is configured, the filtering process could crash due to memory corruption and restart, resulting in a DoS condition. The software could then resume processing the same S/MIME-signed email, causing the filtering process to crash and restart again. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a permanent DoS condition. This vulnerability may require manual intervention to recover the ESA. Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability. This advisory is available at the following link: https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20190109-esa-dos
Credit: This vulnerability was found during the resolution a Cisco TAC support case
Affected Software | Affected Version | How to fix |
---|---|---|
Cisco AsyncOS Software |
Sign up to SecAlerts for real-time vulnerability data matched to your software, aggregated from hundreds of sources.
The severity of cisco-sa-20190109-esa-dos is classified as a denial of service vulnerability.
To fix cisco-sa-20190109-esa-dos, upgrade the Cisco AsyncOS Software for ESA to the latest version that addresses the vulnerability.
Organizations using Cisco Email Security Appliance with the affected version of AsyncOS Software are vulnerable to cisco-sa-20190109-esa-dos.
cisco-sa-20190109-esa-dos allows unauthenticated remote attackers to cause a denial of service on the email security appliance.
Yes, cisco-sa-20190109-esa-dos can be easily exploited by attackers without any authentication.