Cisco ESA AsyncOS TLS DoS via massive TLS connections
CVE-2022-20960 Published on November 4, 2022
A vulnerability in 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 improper handling of certain TLS connections that are processed by an affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by establishing a large number of concurrent TLS connections to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the device to drop new TLS email messages that come from the associated email servers. Exploitation of this vulnerability does not cause the affected device to unexpectedly reload. The device will recover autonomously within a few hours of when the attack is halted or mitigated.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2022-20960 is exploitable with network access, and does not require authorization privileges or user interaction. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have no impact on confidentiality and integrity, and a high impact on availability.
Weakness Type
What is a Resource Exhaustion Vulnerability?
The software does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource, thereby enabling an actor to influence the amount of resources consumed, eventually leading to the exhaustion of available resources.
CVE-2022-20960 has been classified to as a Resource Exhaustion vulnerability or weakness.
Products Associated with CVE-2022-20960
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Affected Versions
Cisco Secure Email:- Version 11.0.3-238 is affected.
- Version 11.1.0-069 is affected.
- Version 11.1.0-131 is affected.
- Version 11.1.0-128 is affected.
- Version 12.0.0-419 is affected.
- Version 12.1.0-071 is affected.
- Version 12.1.0-087 is affected.
- Version 12.1.0-089 is affected.
- Version 13.0.0-392 is affected.
- Version 13.5.1-277 is affected.
- Version 12.5.0-066 is affected.
- Version 14.0.0-698 is affected.
- Version 14.2.0-620 is affected.
Exploit Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.