Cisco Security Advisory
Cisco ESA, Cisco WSA, and Cisco SMA GUI Denial of Service Vulnerability

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L/E:X/RL:X/RC:X
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A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA), Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA), and Cisco Content Security Management Appliance (SMA) could allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to cause high CPU usage on an affected device, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition.
The vulnerability is due to improper validation of specific HTTP request headers. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malformed HTTP request to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to trigger a prolonged status of high CPU utilization relative to the GUI process(es). Upon successful exploitation of this vulnerability, an affected device will still be operative, but its response time and overall performance may be degraded.
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-cont-sec-gui-dos-nJ625dXb
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Vulnerable Products
At the time of publication, this vulnerability affected the following Cisco products if they were running an affected software version:
- Cisco ESA and Cisco Cloud Email Security Release 13.0.0-392 and earlier
- Cisco WSA Release 12.0.1-268 and earlier
- Cisco SMA releases earlier than 13.6.0
See the Details section in the bug ID(s) at the top of this advisory for the most complete and current information.
Products Confirmed Not Vulnerable
Only products listed in the Vulnerable Products section of this advisory are known to be affected by this vulnerability.
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There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.
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When considering software upgrades, customers are advised to regularly consult the advisories for Cisco products, which are available from the Cisco Security Advisories and Alerts page, to determine exposure and a complete upgrade solution.
In all cases, customers should ensure that the devices to be upgraded contain sufficient memory and confirm that current hardware and software configurations will continue to be supported properly by the new release. If the information is not clear, customers are advised to contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) or their contracted maintenance providers.
Fixed Releases
See the Details section in the bug ID(s) at the top of this advisory for the most complete and current information.
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The Cisco Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) is not aware of any public announcements or malicious use of the vulnerability that is described in this advisory.
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This vulnerability was found by Vijay Kumar D V of Cisco during internal security testing.
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To learn about Cisco security vulnerability disclosure policies and publications, see the Security Vulnerability Policy. This document also contains instructions for obtaining fixed software and receiving security vulnerability information from Cisco.
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Version Description Section Status Date 1.0 Initial public release. - Final 2020-MAR-04
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