TI-2022-05212 Aliases CVE-2022-20653 GHSA-p3pv-g3c9-4qf8

Cisco Email Security Appliance DNS Verification Denial of Service Vulnerability

MEDIUM 42CWE-399Published 2022-02-17 · Updated 2024-11-06

Key facts

Attack vector: Network
Privileges required: None
User interaction: None
Attack complexity: Low
Impact type: Denial of service
Confidentiality · integrity · availability: None · None · High
Fix status: No fix listed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-399 and the CVSS impact.

Summary

A vulnerability in the DNS-based Authentication of Named Entities (DANE) email verification component of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient error handling in DNS name resolution by the affected software. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending specially formatted email messages that are processed by an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the device to become unreachable from management interfaces or to process additional email messages for a period of time until the device recovers, resulting in a DoS condition. Continued attacks could cause the device to become completely unavailable, resulting in a persistent DoS condition.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV

EPSS 0.01826 78th percentileScored 2026-11-07

Fix No fix listed No fixed version in the sources yet

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation: None
Automatable: Yes
Technical impact: Partial

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

Vendor	Product	Affected versions	Fixed in	Status	Source
Cisco	Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA)	all versions	—	No fix listed	CNA

Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) VendorCisco Affected all versions Fixed in — No fix listed CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPE	Versions	Role	Vendor
cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asyncos::::::::	before 13.0.3; 13.5.0 to before 13.5.4.102; 14.0 to before 14.0.2.020	Vulnerable	Cisco

cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asyncos:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 13.0.3; 13.5.0 to before 13.5.4.102; 14.0 to before 14.0.2.020 Vulnerable ·Cisco

Remediation

No fixed version listed by the sources yet.

Timeline

2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2022-20653
2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-p3pv-g3c9-4qf8

References

Advisory 1

20220217 Cisco Email Security Appliance DNS Verification Denial of Service Vulnerability

TI-2026-74174 Arbitrary file write in Cisco Secure Email Gateway via AMP feature KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
TI-2026-53489 Cisco Secure Email Gateway SQL Injection Vulnerability KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
TI-2025-14683 Cisco Secure Email Gateway and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager Remote Command Execution Vulnerability KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 10.0
TI-2021-13698 Cisco Web Security Appliance Proxy Service Denial of Service Vulnerability CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.6
TI-2018-11020 Cisco Email Security Appliance URL Filtering Denial of Service Vulnerability CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.6
TI-2019-01567 Cisco Email Security Appliance Denial of Service Vulnerability CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.6

See all 55 →

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences