CVE-2023-20009
Published: 01 March 2023
Summary
CVE-2023-20009 is a medium-severity Improper Input Validation (CWE-20) vulnerability in Cisco Email Security Appliance. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).
Operationally, ranked in the top 45.4% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-24188
Vulnerability details
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…
more
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.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Requiring identifiable owners for portable devices reduces the attack surface for unrestricted uploads of dangerous file types via anonymous media.
Security testing and developer training directly verify and enforce proper input validation, reducing exploitability of injection and malformed-data weaknesses.
Security testing and evaluation at multiple SDLC stages directly detects missing or flawed input validation, with the required remediation process ensuring fixes are applied.
Dangerous file uploads can be detonated in the chamber to determine malice before any production write or execution occurs.
Prevents unrestricted writing of arbitrary or malicious firmware by keeping hardware write-protect enabled except under tightly controlled manual procedures.
Directly implements checks on information inputs to reject invalid data before processing.
Scans files from external sources on download/open/execute, blocking unrestricted uploads of dangerous file types.
Spam protection mechanisms perform filtering and detection on inbound/outbound messages, directly compensating for missing or weak input validation of unsolicited content.